It's True, I Crave You
by RamenStarr
Summary: Fem!Barry x Harrison Wells (Eobard) through Berry's eyes.
1. A Lightning Strike

**This is a Fem!Barry x Harrison Wells (Eobard). I'm going to try and 1 episode per chapter, but we'll see how it goes. Also, I don't have a beta, so if shit is spelled wrong or something, my bad!**

 **I don't own the Flash.**

The first time in what I would come to learn to be nine months, I started to become aware of my surroundings.

The first thing I felt was an intense groggyness weighing my body down, and a dull ache thrumming through my head. 'Ugh, this is even worse than that one time in college. How much did I drink last night?'

Deciding to keep my eyes firmly shut for the moment, I started to pay closer attention to the noises surrounding me. It didn't feel like my bed, but it seemed unlikely that I had sex last night since I didn't feel the expected soreness of a good time. Whoever's place I was, I knew it wasn't my apartment or my foster family's.

'Is that...Lady Gaga playing in the background?'

After another few lyrics, yes, it was certainly Poker Face drifting throughout the room, and also unfamiliar voices.

"What are you doing?" A female voice asked.

"She likes this song!" another male voice responded.

"How could you possibly know that?" Miss skeptical asked. "I checked her facebook page! I mean, she can hear everything, right?" He checked my facebook? Who was here with me?

"Well, auditory functions are the last to deteriorate," Wait, what? Deteriorate?

The strangers continued to talk in the background while I desperately tried to remember what the fuck happened last night. I know that I was feeling pretty depressed about missing the rest of my celebrity crush's speech about the Particle Accelerator and then getting my ass stomped when I tried to stop the thief who stole Iris' bag, but I don't remember going out and drinking that-

The Particle Accelerator. It...blew up! Then, looking up, all I saw was bright light and could feel crackling fire running through my veins, burning my blood-

My green eyes snap open and I quickly sit up in bed with a gasp as if I could escape the memory the burning pain.

"Oh, my God!" I try to focus on the young man in front of me, staring at me in shock and surprise. "Where am I?" I gasp out, not recognizing the room I was in. I blindly try to rub an area on my chest find a something suctioned to it. I remove it without a second thought, my eyes now shifting to the woman moving towards me holding what looked like a flashlight. I stare at her lips in confusion for a moment, seeing them move but not hearing any words. All I can hear is a buzzing, a familiar sound that always came before a panic attack. The woman was still saying something, and then shined the damn flashlight in my eyes, and I leaned backwards to avoid it.

Ah, she was saying something about my pupils. I quickly ripped off the suction cups that were on my head and winced slightly when they ripped out a few hairs by my temples. Frowning I ran a hand through my hair in confusion at feeling the long locks. 'How long was I out?!' My brown hair was much longer than I've had it recently, now curling to my chin.

I sat back up and tried to untangle my legs from the sheet when guy came over holding his hands up peacefully. "Hey, hey whoa, relax..." he said calmly and laid a hand on my shoulder. My bare shoulder. I look down in dismay and realize that I'm only wearing a plain black bra and matching boy shorts. Where were my clothes?!

"Everything's okay, girl! You're at STAR Labs!" He grinned at me, thankfully keeping eye contact. Wait-

"STAR Labs?" I rasp out, hearing a familiar subject finally starts to clear the cloud of panic away. "Who are you?" I ask, then jerk my head to the side when I feel something cold in my ear.

"I'm Cisco Ramon, this is Caitlin," Cisco introduces and shoots Caitlin a look when she continues to try to peer into my ear. "Dr. Snow." He explained with an eye roll.

"I need you to urinate in this." Caitlin demands while holding up a plastic cup. My mouth falls open a bit and Cisco takes the cup from her in annoyance. "Not this second!"

I've had enough. "Okay, what is going on?!" I move out from between to get some much needed space. "You were struck by lightning, girl!"

I squint my eyes at Cisco in confusion and quickly turn around so that they couldn't see the look of fear on my face. That would definitely explain the painful memories from those last moments in my lab...

The monitor in front of me derailed my train of thought as I caught a look at my body. "Lightning...gave me abs?" I asked in a baffled voice. Caitlin came back over to me and started poking and prodding at me again. "Your muscles should have started to atrophy but instead they have been in a chronic state of cellular regeneration." she explained with a hint of wonder.

"C'mere, have a seat." Cisco muttered and pulled me back into facing him, coincidentally saving me from the Doctor again. It's a good thing I sat down or I would have been floored when he told me that I'd been in a coma.

I couldn't help but stare at him in disbelief. Coma patients don't usually immediately get up and around after waking up, right? "For how long?" I asked, running a hand through my too long hair.

"For nine months."

My head whipped around to stare at the newcomer and I sucked in a breath.

Dr. Harrison Wells was there staring at me with those beautiful blue eyes that I've spent hours staring at from the cover of my favorite book, and multiple saved photo's that I've shamelessly downloaded from the internet. "Welcome back, Ms. Allen." he smiled. "We have a lot to discuss."

I stared at my idol/crush and tried to process what was happening. Why was he in a wheelchair? Did he get hurt that night as well? Why have I never seen him in casual clothing before? Why hasn't the world? Although, to be fair, if everyone saw how nice his arms looked in that tight fitted black sweater he would never get any peace and quiet. Dear god, and I thought he looked hot in a suit...

"Sir, I think I should continue to check her vitals first. Ever since Ms. Allen woke up she's been acting very disoriented and-"

His black hair looked slightly messy, like he had been running his hands through them. Did he do that? When he was stressed with work or had an equation that stumped him did he run his hand through his hair?

"Oh please, Caitlin, of course she's disoriented! The chick just found out that she'd been a coma for nine months!"

Was it even possible for someone to be born with such electric blue eyes? The just seemed to pop even more when peering behind those long dark lashes and glasses.

"-Allen? Ms. Allen?" I blinked and directed my line of sight down to his lips. Oh. "Y-yeah?" I rasped out before internally cringing.

"Is everything alright? Do you need something to drink?" Dr. Wells asked in what sounded like concern, and glanced behind me for a moment before locking them onto me again. I cleared my throat and tried not to ruin this meeting even more. "Oh, uh, no thank you, I'm fine. Thank you, though..." Dear god, could I make this any worse?

"Alright then," he smiled at me again, showing a glimpse of white teeth that had me momentarily distracted again. "If you'll follow me, Ms. Allen." He then turned his wheelchair around and starting heading out towards the hallway that he came from. My brain finally jumped into gear and I scrambled to follow him. I had just caught up with him when I heard the older woman behind me suddenly gasp. Dr. Wells and I stopped and I half turned to look at her in confusion. Her eyes were wide and was about to say something when I heard an sharp intake of breath next to me. I returned my gaze back to where it really wanted to be (lets be real) and blinked when I saw his eyes finish their trek back up to my face. No, Harrison Wells couldn't possibly checking me out, not in this outfit...

...I'm not wearing an outfit. I'm nOT WEARING ANYTHING.

My arms quickly shoot up to try and cover my black undergarments as I quickly dashed behind Dr. Wells' chair so that I was directly behind him, a rosy red blush lighting up my face and burning it's way down. Why did the fucking universe hate me?

I heard the man clear his throat and let out a small chuckle. "Ah, sorry about that, Ms. Allen. I didn't really notice that you were still in a state of undress. I apologize." I wasn't sure if I should be insulted by that or not.

Why didn't that damn lightning bolt just put me out of my misery?

 **8888**

Caitlin directed me to an area where I could change into a pair of sweatpants and a STAR Labs sweater. She was also blushing and apologized for letting her professional side take over. I forgave her, although I wasn't sure if I would ever truly get over the mortification of meeting Dr. Wells in my panties.

I raised my head high and went back out to join the older man in the hallway. He did a quick perusal of my new attire and nodded before rolling away, waving for me to follow.

I darted forward so that I was once again beside him as we made our way down the hall. I shot a quick side eye glance down at the man I respect and admire. I opened my mouth to apologize for practically flashing him earlier but instead said, "It's...hard to believe I'm here right now. I mean, I've always wanted to meet you face to face."

"Well, you certainly went through great lengths to get here, Ms. Allen. STAR Labs hasn't been operational since FEMA categorized us as a Class 4 hazardous location," he explained as we moved past what looked like a destroyed cage. I spared it a quick glance before returning my green gaze to Dr. Wells. "Seventeen people died that night. Many more were injured...myself included."

We stopped at a railing and I carefully leaned forward, peering over it to see the wreckage below. "Jesus...what happened?" I asked in a quiet tone, looking back to the man with wide eyes.

"Nine months ago, the particle accelerator went online, exactly as planned. For exactly forty-five minutes, my life's dream was accomplished...and then..." he paused for a moment. "...and then there was an anomaly. The electron volts became immeasurable and the ring beneath us popped," he threw a hand up into the air. "and the energy from the detonation was thrown up into the sky. And that in turn seeded the storm cloud above-"

I looked up at the sky as he was speaking and then back at him, "-that created the lightning bolt...that struck me..." I finished for him.

"That's right," He nodded. His blue eyes were so intense as they stared at me that I unconsciously grabbed a fist full of my sweater, as if to assure myself that I was no longer half naked and exposed in front of him again. "I was recovering myself, when I had heard about you, Ms. Allen."

My eyebrows furrowed slightly and I let out a soft sigh through my nose. Of course the Dr. Wells would hear about me when I sick and dying. My luck was the worst.

"The hospital was having unexplained power outages every time you went into cardiac arrest, which was a misdiagnosis...because you see, you weren't flat-lining, Berenice-" I gasped softly; he used my name, my actual name-"Your heart was going too fast for the EKG to even register it."

We continued onward in the walk as he kept speaking and we had made it back to the room that I woke up in earlier. "Now, I'm not the most popular person around town these days but...Detective West and his daughter did give me permission to move you here where we stabilized you."

"Ah, Iris," I supplied him my foster sister's name.

"Iris? Yes, she came to see you the most out of all of your guests."

"She talks a lot," Caitlin said as she approached, passing Dr. Wells a drink.

"Also, she's hot!" Cisco added with a grin.

I rolled my eyes, used to hearing how 'hot' she was. It made it hard to get a date when we went out together. Speaking of..."Hey, did you guys call them to let them know that I was awake?" I asked.

Cisco and Caitlin both blinked before taking on sheepish and chagrined expressions. I'll take that as a no. "Right, I gotta go." I said and made my way around Dr. Wells' chair.

"No wait, you can't!" Caitlin called out behind me as I made my way back towards the hall. "No, Caitlin's right. Now that you're awake, we need to do more tests." Dr. Wells voice brought me to a pause, and I turned around to look at him. "You're still going through more changes. There's so much that we don't know." he said.

The earnest way he was looking at me made me falter for a moment, but my need to see my family outweighed my need to stay and do tests with the handsome man. "I'm sorry, but I really need to go see them and let them know I'm okay. If you grew up in Joe's house, you'd understand."

I slowly backed up and shot the three of them a small grin. "Look, I feel fine. Thank you for saving my life! I promise I'll come back!" I slipped around the corner but then quickly backed up to peer back into the room. "Can I keep the clothes?" I asked a bashfully.

Dr. Wells let out a sigh and quirked the corner of his lips up at me in a small smile. "Yeah, keep the clothes."

"Okay, thank you!"

 **8888**

Okay, maybe I wasn't so okay after all.

I went by my apartment to change into some of my clothes before going to see Iris at Jitters. We hugged, we cried a little, but then things got weird.

While she was talking to me everything seemed to slow down for a moment. The waitress behind Iris was tripping in slow motion, and then it all sped up to normal with a literal crash. I took a shaky breath and followed Iris out of Jitters, trying to understand what the hell had just happened.

It happened again later when we joined up with Joe. He had just left to see to a robbery, I had just learned that his original partner was shot down the night of my accident. The new pretty-boy cop was his new partner, of all people. Then, I noticed that a perp was eyeing one of the officers holstered guns and made a move to grab it. Without even thinking, I rushed over to him and quickly pushed him forward so that he slammed into the desk. I was suddenly back in the place I was standing previously, and realized with a jolt, that it all happened in seconds.

I quickly bid farewell to Iris and waved off her concerns, telling her that I just needed fresh air. Then it went from weird to exhilarating and bizarre.

I was faster! So fast that everything was a blur, and the wind blowing through my hair and battering my face made me feel more free than I ever had before.

I had to get back to STAR Labs. I had to tell Dr. Wells what I could do.

Which is where I had just arrived. I had ran here and it only took me like five minutes. The drive earlier took like fifteen! I wasn't even freaking winded. I looked down at my hands with a grin and saw that they were shaking so much that they looked like they were vibrating. Huh.

I ran into the building and tried my best to go slow which probably looked to be a normal jog. I tried to go the same route I took out before and found all three of them in the same room as before, Caitlin and Cisco standing over Dr. Wells' shoulders reading off the same computer screen as them. Three pairs of eyes shot up to look at me upon my arrival.

"Okay, so you'll never guess what I just did!" I exclaim as I came to a stop a couple feet in front of them. Dr. Wells raised an eyebrow and smiled, successfully derailing my train of thought. "Oh? And what would that be, Ms. Allen? Nothing bad, I assume."

I gave him a wide grin and recounted what had happened, trying not miss a single detail.

 **8888**

Well, I guess it's a good thing that all three of my saviors already saw me in my undergarments, because if not, this would take the cake on the most-embarrassing-state-of-attire-i've-ever-worn-in-front-of-strangers. And Harrison Wells. Fuck.

"How's it fit?" Cisco called from outside the door of the RV. He sounded more excited about this test than even I did.

I took a deep breath for courage and reluctantly walked out. "It's snug." I replied dryly.

"Well, at least you'll be moving so fast that no one will see you." He patted my arm with a grin. I guess that was meant to cheer me up. Didn't really work.

"See, you thought the world around you was slowing down, but it wasn't! You were just moving so fast that everything looked like it was standing still," Cisco explained and nodded over to where Dr. Wells and Caitlin were. "Dr. Wells is going to monitor you energy output, while Caitlin will monitor your vitals."

"Okay, and what do you do?" I asked and tilted my head to the side in curiosity.

He grinned at me and held up a circular piece of equipment with what looked like a gold lightning bolt on it. "I make all the toys! Check it-this is a two-way headset with a camera I've modified. Now these typically are designed to combat battlefield impulse noise, or in your case? Potential sonic booms. Which would be awesome!"

Cisco removed the helmet and goggles as Caitlin approached me and ran a hand through my newly cut hair. Caitlin had such a look of dismay when she found me in the bathroom earlier attempting to fix it back into my short pixie style. She begrudgingly helped layer it in the back for me.

I looked at her inquisitively as the doctor worked on the sensors on my suit. Suddenly our eyes locked.

"What?"

"Ah, nothing..." I blushed a little at being caught. "It's just that, it seems you don't smile a lot..."

Caitlin pushed her hair back with a sigh. "My once promising career in bio-engineering is over and my boss-" my eyes slid over to where Dr. Wells was working at his computer before cutting back to Caitlin. "-is in a wheelchair for life. My fiance died in the explosion that put you in a coma. So this black expression of mine feels like the way to go."

I tried to hide my grimace as she turned away. I just couldn't stop my mouth from running away from me today. Did I get brain damage from the stupid coma?

"Ms. Allen," Dr. Wells' voice had me turning over to look at him. "While I'm extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint."

"Yeah...okay." I nodded back to him with a shy smile before turning towards the starting point. Cisco ran back over with my head gear and patted me on the back for luck.

I got into position and looked back over my shoulder for one last glance of reassurance from Dr. Wells. He gave me a encouraging smile and slipped on a black pair of sunglasses. I faced back forward to hide my giddy grin. Without further ado, I tore down the runway.

The wind was so refreshing, and it was almost like I was flying across the ground instead of running. I was creating gusts of wind as I flew by. It was so liberating. I let out a whoop of excitement.

Then, I started to feel a foreign feeling creep in throughout my limbs, circulating through my veins, mixing in my blood. It was scarily close to how I felt when I got struck by the lightning, minus the pain. I started breathing a little harder, feeling another panic attack try to creep in, when my most traumatizing memory resurfaced.

The night my mother was murdered, surrounded by a swirling storm of red and gold lightning, and a form in yellow, and those red, glowing eyes...

I didn't see the barrels of water until it was too late.

 **8888**

"It looks like you had a distal radius fracture," Caitlin explained, showing me the x-rays on the tablet.

"Had?" I asked uncertainly, rubbing my tender wrist.

"It's healed," she swiped back between two x-rays. "In three hours."

I raised my eyebrows in shock. "How is that even possible?"

"We...don't know." Caitlin paused before adding. "Yet."

"You really need to learn how to stop," Cisco teased as he walked by, holding up my damaged helmet.

I sheepishly ran a hand through my short brown hair as Dr. Wells wheeled up to me. "What happened out there? You were moving pretty well and then something caused you to lose focus."

I blushed a bit and shifted on the cot, crossing my legs in the process. I could of sworn the man's eyes tracked my movement, but it was probably just wishful thinking. "I think I started to remember something..." I started hesitantly. Dr. Wells raised his brows at me and moved his head inquisitively. I swallowed before I continued. "When I was eleven, my mother was murdered."

I bit my lip when I felt Cisco and Caitlin's gazes on me, and forced myself to continue. "It was late and I woke up to a noise. When I came downstairs I saw what looked like a ball of lightning, racing around my mom." My eyes were dancing around the room as I talked, before movement from Dr. Wells drew them back to him. The man had taken off his glasses and was looking at me intently. It felt like it was just the two of us in the room, and I opened up a bit more. "But inside that lightning...there was a man. He killed my mom." Slowly Dr. Wells slid his glasses back on, but continued to look into my eyes. "The police, they arrested my father and he's sitting in Iron Heights to this day. Everyone-the cops, the shrinks- they told me what I saw was impossible. But now, I wonder...what if that man was like me, somehow?"

"Well, I think I can say unequivocally you are one of a kind, Ms. Allen." Dr. Wells said, giving me a small smile.

I exhaled, nodding. Maybe I was...

 **8888**

This was one of the longest days of my life.

After leaving STAR Labs again, I ran into Iris and Detective Thawne of all people, kissing. As her and I walked down the sidewalk she explained how it started, and that nobody knew yet. Especially Joe.

Then I heard the sirens.

Just like before, I saw everything slow down and quickly dove to the side with Iris to avoid the cars. I looked up at the speeding car driving by and my eyes widened at seeing a dead man at the wheel.

I sprinted after Mardon and crashed into the passenger seat. He looked at me with a confused sneer before reaching for his gun. I panicked and did the first thing that came to mind to stop him, and grabbed the steering wheel and tugged. We were rolling through the air instantly.

Then the dude poured fog out from his hands like no big deal and escaped, while I was left gapping at him.

Then a car crashed into the abandoned one behind me, the driver having not seen it through the thick fog. I felt fucking horrible. It was my fault.

Iris and I watched the body of the driver get carted away with heavy hearts. We were snapped out of our trance when Joe ran up.

"Berry! Iris,"

"I'm alright, Dad." he immediately turned to me.

"What the hell were you thinking, having her out here?" Joe scolded, and I shrank back in surprise.

"I-"

"Dad, we were walking and talking, catching up!" Iris protested. He rounded on her. "I have told you, you see danger, you run the other way. You are not a cop!"

"Because you would't let me!" Iris snapped back.

Iris would've made an excellent cop, if Joe had let her. I was certain. "Joe? I need to talk to you," I interjected, before they opened up that old argument.

"It can wait-"

"No. It can't." I insisted, and walked a bit away, expecting him to follow.

He did, and was now looking at me with an expectant look. "I saw who did this."

He blinked in surprise. "Think you could give us a sketch?"

"I don't need to. It was Clyde Mardon."

Joe rolled his eyes in exasperation and I couldn't help but bare my teeth in anger. Of course he doesn't even try to believe me. "Look, I know it sounds crazy and everyone thinks he died in a plane crash after the explosion at STAR Labs, but I saw him in the driver's seat as he was driving away from the scene!" His look of exasperation was mingling with disappointment now. I tried again. "And...I think something happened to him that night. Something...something that lets him control the weather. All the recent robberies, they happened during freak meteorological events and when I confronted him, the entire street was enveloped in that thick fog-"

My gut clenched painfully at the look on his face.

I scoffed and shook my head. "Of course you don't believe me." My spine stiffened and and I glared off to the side. "You never do."

"Okay, you want to do this now? Here?" Joe asked in aggravation. "Fine, Mardon is dead, Berry. There is no controlling the weather. Just like there was no lightning storm in your house that night. What you saw was the brain of a scared, traumatized little girl trying to make sense of witnessing her father kill her mother."

"My Dad didn't murder-" I tried to interject, my voice wavering with my own aggravation.

"Yes, he did!" He interrupted me, talking right over me. "He did-and I am sorry. I knew it, the jury knew it, and now he's paying for what he did. And you have to accept that, Berry."

"Dad, enough!" Iris cried out.

"No, Iris." Joe shook his head and I jerked my head to the side as he turned back to continue. "I have done my best to take care of you since that night, Berenice." I couldn't help but wince at the use of my full name. "I didn't ever ask for anything in return. Not a thank you, nothing. But what I am asking now is this: That you for once, see things in your life as they are."

I took a breath as I felt my face getting hot; not in embarrassment, but in anger and hurt. I walked away, fighting the urge to break into that blurring run. I ducked under the crime scene tape and thought I heard Iris calling for her, but didn't dare look back.

I should have known better than to tell what I saw. The fleeting thought to tell him what I could do had also flown out the window and didn't look back. That would just be the last straw for him. But...there was someone I could talk to, who already new what I'd become.

 **8888**

The doors slid open, alerting the trio to my arrival. I managed to push down the anger and betrayal down to a simmer on the run here. There's no need to blow up on someone who didn't deserve it. I swept my green eyes over my three new companions before stopping at the man in the wheelchair.

"I wasn't the only one affected by the explosion that night, was I?" I asked Dr. Wells in a soft voice.

He took in a breath and exchanged a look with Caitlin. "We don't know for sure." he admitted.

"You said the city was safe, that there was no residual danger, but that's not true is it? What really happened?" I asked softer still.

"Well," Dr. Wells looked to the other two again, both of whom looked away. "The accelerator went active, we all felt like heroes...and then it went wrong." Dr. Wells was jabbing at the tablet on his wheelchair, bringing up a display on one of the room's many screens for me to see. "When the explosion happened, a dimensional barrier ruptured, unleashing unknown energies into our world-dark matter, anti-matter, X-elements-"

"Those are all theoretical!" I interrupted, whirling back at him, eyes narrowed.

"And how theoretical are you, Ms. Allen?" he asked in a silky tone that had a hint of something dangerous layered underneath. I blushed and bit my lip.

"We've mapped dispersion throughout and around Central City, but we have no way of knowing who or what was exposed. We've been searching for other Meta-humans, like yourself."

"Meta-humans...?" I whispered.

"That's what we're calling them," Caitlin informed.

"I saw one today," I said, willing to keep my voice from rising. "He's a bank robber, and he can control the weather."

"This just keeps getting cooler!" Cisco said with an excited grin.

The anger and guilt that has been festering ever since I saw the poor dead man being carted away to the morgue, finally burst through. They were treating this all like a goddamn experiment!

"This is not cool!" I snapped, practically vibrating from the crackling emotions running through me. "All right?! A man died today!"

Cisco looked reasonably chagrined and looked down. I turned my attention back to Dr. Wells, and tried to calm down. "Mardon must have gotten his powers the same way I did-from that storm cloud. He's still out there and we have to stop him before he hurts anyone else."

I turned away, about to storm out the door. I would do this alone if I had to. Without any of them!

"Berenice. That's a job for the police." I froze mid-step at hearing Dr. Wells using my full name, and quickly twirled around to meet his gaze. "I work for the police."

"As a forensic assistant."

My jaw clenched in frustration. "You're responsible for this. For him."

"What's important is you!" He snapped, his blue eyes sharpening in anger. "Not me. I lost everything. My company. My reputation. My freedom!" His fist clenched, banging on the arm of the wheelchair. "And then you broke your arm and it healed in three hours. Inside your body could be a map to a whole new world of genetic therapy, vaccines, treasures, Berenice. All that resides deep within your cells and we cannot risk losing that because you want to go off and play hero!"

I trembled as he took a breath and continued. "You're not a hero. You are a young woman that got struck by lightning."

 **8888**

As I ran, I recalled.

Remembered being a little girl running up to my house, my father being dragged away in handcuffs.

I remembered slipping inside anyway. Of Joe's voice rumbling as I made my way to the covered body of my mother. Of pulling the material back and calling for her...

...of Joe pulling me away.

I came to a skidding halt outside the sign announcing Starling City in five miles. My jacket was sparking, catching fire and I pulled it off hurriedly.

There was only one person that could possibly help me. Now I just had to find him and tell him everything.

And when I found him off that roof top...I did. Everything. The coma, the speed, meeting my favorite person, the argument with Joe...

"So why come to me?" the Arrow asked, turning to look at me fully. "Something tells me you didn't run six-hundred miles just to vent to a friend."

"...all my life...I have wanted to do more. Be more. And now that I am, I screw it up...I always screw it up...and a guy died because of that. I was trying so hard to stop Mardon and that poor man... What if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero...and I'm just some girl struck by lightning...?"

"I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you, Berry," he said. "I think it chose you."

"I'm not like you, Oliver," I whispered. "I'm not cut out to be a...a vigilante."

"No," he agreed. "Not a vigilante. Something better. Because you, Berry Allen, can inspire people, in a way I never could. Watching over your city like a guardian angel, making a difference by saving people...in a flash. Take the advice you gave me – wear a mask."

I smiled at the man in gratitude, and my heart couldn't help but skip a beat when he smiled back.

 **8888**

I ran back home and immediately went to STAR Labs in search of Caitlin and Cisco. I swallowed my pride and asked them to help me stop Mardon, and thankfully they were reluctant to do nothing as more lives were put in danger. Cisco hooked me up with a suit to deal with the friction, and Caitlin found where Mardon was currently.

'Shit, Joe!" Eddie looked was laying next to my foster father by their car. Suddenly, a piece of debris came flying towards them. Without a second thought, I hurled myself towards it and slammed into, knocking us both off course.

The roof was partially on top of me and I pushed it off with a grunt before climbing back to my feet. I tried reajusting the suit's respirator before deeming it a lost cause and just ripped it off.

"Berry?" Cisco's voice came over the earpiece. "Berry! Wind speeds are two-hundred miles per hour and increasing. Berry, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, loud and clear."

"If this keep up it can become and F5 tornado..." Cisco cautioned.

"Its headed towards the city! How do I stop it?!" I watched in frustration at the tower of twisting wind and debris. "...what if I unravel it?"

"How the hell are you going to do that?!" Caitlin demanded.

"I'll...I'll run in its opposing direction, cut its legs off."

"She'd have to clock seven-hundred miles per hour to do that!" I heard Cisco telling Caitlin.

"Your body might not be able to handle those speeds – you'll die!"

I gritted my teeth; I could see Joe from the corner of my eye. "I have to try."

With that I was gone in a blur of red wreathed in golden lightning, racing towards the tornado. Immediately I swerved, circling it in the opposing direction of the tornado's swirling winds.

Faintly I could hear the voices of Cisco and Caitlin through my concentration.

"The suit's holding up!"

"But she's not!"

"She can do it – I know she can do it!"

Cisco's words gave me a much needed boost of confidence, but Icould see him...see Mardon...in the tornado's eye. And he was watching me, watching me race around his monster trying to unravel it. Mardon lashed out with a hand and lightning flashed, striking me and knocking me off the path I had started.

She skidded across the ground, crying out in pain before coming to a halt. 'I'm getting really tired of getting hit by fucking lightning.'

"He's too strong!" I cried out.

"You can do this, Berenice." It was not a voice I had expected and a shiver went down my spine as Dr. Wells said my name directly in my ear. "You were right. I am responsible for all of this. So many people have been hurt, because of me. And when I looked at you...all I saw was a potential victim of my hubris. And yes, Berenice...I did create this madness, but you...you can stop it. You can do this. Now run! Berenice, run!"

I flung herself forward at that command, a blur of red and gold, cutting a swath to the tornado once more. Once more circling the tornado, I poured everything I could into my speed. All the pent up anger and frustration I've felt since waking, of being talked down to by Joe and Dr. Wells...everything.

I moved faster than I had before. The winds ripped at me and I could hear Mardon's scream of outrage as after what felt like days...the tornado collapsed in on itself and the winds subsided.

"Berry?" Caitlin called out.

I was on my knees panting for breath; I could feel the breeze whipping through hair and on my face.

"Hey!" The yell was Mardon and I spun around. He was walking towards me, a gun in hand. He lifted it, leveling it at my chest. "I didn't think there was anyone else like me."

"No..." I panted, shaking my head. "I'm not like you. I'm not a murderer."

He was about to fire when shots rang out and it was Mardon that fell. I jerked around to see the figure of Joe skidding down an embankment.

"Berry!" Caitlin's call was insistent.

"...its alright. I'm fine. Its over," I sighed as I staggered back to my feet. Well, attempted to. I fell back to the ground, my legs like limp noodles as Joe approached.

I braced myself even as he fell to his knees before where I sat. Peeking at him from beneath my eyelashes, I remained as taunt as a bow-string, ready to try running once more.

...he almost looked ready to cry as he stared at her...

 **8888**

It was daylight when he spoke to me. The scene was being cleared and I had changed out of the suit and back into my own clothing.

"What you can do...it was the lightning bolt?"

"...more or less," I murmured.

"I'm sorry, Berry," he said; they were words I had never really expected to hear. Not from him, or anyone. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. That I called you crazy for chasing the impossible..."

He looked at me. "...but you really did see something that night, when your mom died..."

I nodded.

"Your dad...he is innocent..."

There was a relief, as weight slid off my lean body. That was all I had ever wanted to hear him say...

"Listen to me...you have to make me a promise. I don't want you telling Iris about this...about anything you can do. Any of it. I want her safe. One of you has to be safe. Promise me."

"...Alright..."

 **8888**

I hated Iron Heights. Hated it fiercely...but at least I had a moment to visit with my father...even though we had to talk over these phones, see each other through that glass...

"Hey, Pumpkin."

"You always call me that..." I murmured and he chuckled. "...I got into a fight today."

"You got out of a coma, I don't think you should be picking fights," Henry said in concern, peering at me through the glass. "...did you win?"

I smiled with a little too much teeth. "Yeah."

There was a pause as he grinned at me before I continued. "...I know you didn't kill Mom. You know I know that, right?"

"You believing me is all I need, pumpkin."

"You won't be here much longer," I promised. "Whoever...whatever...killed Mom...I think I have a way to find them, to stop them."

"Berry, we've talked about this. You've got to stop worrying, live your life – find a nice man and start a family-"

"I'm not giving up. I...I actually feel alive. For so long I feel like I've been stuck in one place since Mom died...but now...I'm different now. I've made some new friends. And they're helping me find my way...to finally move forward... Remember when you wanted me to change my name? Take Mom's name so people wouldn't know you're my Dad? But I'm so proud to be your daughter."

"I love you, baby girl."

"Love you too, Dad."


	2. The Fastest Woman

Western and Third in downtown Central City was on fire, and I was going to go help in anyway I could. No one was going to die while trapped in a blazing inferno if I could help it!

352 mph; that's how fast I was going, according to Cisco. Pretty slow day, considering how fast I was booking it a week ago against Mardon's tornado. Navigating through the city like this, going fast would be more of a hindrance than helpful anyway. Not since almost tearing off that one open car door the other day. I'll try moving at higher speeds when I'm more experienced.

"Berry?" Cisco's voice was mumbled as he said my name before raising it to get my attention. "Berry!"

"What?!" I snapped back, skidding to a halt, hand on my ear piece. Oh. "Did-Did I miss it?!"

"Yeah, you overshot by like six blocks." Cisco said.

"...Oh. My bad, dude." I sighed and turned on heel, darting back the way I came.

There was a group of panicked residents outside the building. Faintly I could hear a mother calling for her child as I sped through the crowd. Many turned in shock at the red blur that flew by them, stirring up papers and lightweight debris. Inside the apartment building was a fiery nightmare. Everything was on fire and I forced down my own fear. There were people trapped here, most likely more scared that me. I had to help.

"You there yet?" Cisco asked.

"Cisco! There's fire everywhere!" I cried, looking around, and started to panic when he didn't respond. "Cisco? Cisco!"

Suddenly there was a cry over the roaring flames. "Mommy!"

I turned down the burning corridor and saw a small child clutching a stuffed animal in what looked like pajamas. My own fear was shoved aside as I threw myself at the girl and scooped her up and was outside in the next couple of seconds, setting her down safely.

Turning, I went back in again and again in a blur, getting everyone out that I could find. Once I was certain that there was no one else in the building, I sped away only stopping until I was safely tucked behind a building. Breathing in the now clear and smoke free air, I grinned and spoke over the comm. "Everyone's out. Is there anyone else needing help, Cisco?"

"Berry, it's Caitlin." the voice that came over the comm sounded less than thrilled with my heroics.

My eyes widened and I let out a nervous giggle. "Oh...hi Caitlin...How're you today?"

"Get back to STAR Labs. Now."

Aw, hell.

"Alright," I sighed. "I'm on my way."

I stepped forward, ready to sprint off, when suddenly I felt very light-headed, and stumbled into a nearby dumpster. I leaned against it for a moment and pressed a hand to my head in confusion. I took a couple of deep breaths, and the feeling passed. I shrugged it off, and ran back to the Labs, not looking forward to getting scolded by Caitlin.

 **8888**

"Have you both lost your minds?! Who do you think you are!"

The way Caitlin was clutching that tablet, I stayed out of her striking range.

"Well, I'm the eyes and ears," Cisco explained, "and Berry's the feet on the ground!"

"This isn't funny!" she retorted and I trailed at the very end as Cisco followed the fuming doctor. That didn't help when Caitlin stopped, whirling around and pinning me with a glare. "You could have gotten yourself killed! You can't be running around the city like some sort of supersonic fireman!"

"But...isn't this what we talked about? Me using the abilities to do help people?" I asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of my tone.

"No, we talked about you helping us contain other people who were affected by the particle accelerator explosions – Meta-humans. And aside from Clyde Mardon we haven't found any others."

"And people in the city still need help," I interrupted, trying to ignore the exasperated exhale from Caitlin. "And I can help them."

"Will you please say something?" Caitlin directed those words behind me, and I whirled around.

"I think what Caitlin is trying to say, in her own spectacularly angry way," Dr. Wells said as he wheeled forward, "is that we are only just beginning to understand what your body is capable of. Not to sound like a broken record, Ms. Allen, but I do caution restraint."

Licking my lips, I tried to bolster herself. "Dr. Wells, I doubt restraint is how you got to be the man you are today."

"In a wheelchair and a pariah?" he retorted and I blushed at my own stupidity. "Lack of restraint is what made me these things – know your limits."

My face was still burning has he backed his wheelchair up and turned away.

Caitlin breezed by me, and I watched the shorter, older woman give me a harsh look over her shoulder. "Don't expect me to patch you up every time you break something."

As she stalked away, Cisco placed a hand on my slumped shoulder. "Hey uh...did anything happen out there today? The sensors in the suit were kicking back some weird telemetry, like your vitals spiked for a few seconds."

"Well, I was kinda freaked out running into a burning building like that," I replied sheepishly. "But I feel fine now."

Cisco still looked concerned when I heard my phone buzz. He reached into his jeans' pocket and passed it back to me. Looking down, I saw it was Joe, and immediately answered.

"Hey Joe, is everything alright?" I asked.

"Great," he responded. "I got a fresh crime scene – a dead body, detectives interviewing witnesses, and miles of that yellow tape stretched over everything. I'm only missing one thing. Can you guess what that is?"

Oh, right. I smacked a hand over my face. "I'll be right there." I hung up and looked over at Cisco. "Gotta go. My day job beckons."

It wasn't until I had already arrived nearby the scene that I realized that I had run here in my suit. Damn it.

 **8888**

Decked out in one of my only dresses, I stood beside Iris, listening to Stagg's speech. This wasn't one of my more practical outfits to fight crime in, and the black and gold dress was short enough to definitely flash someone if I were to run in it. Well, maybe not if I move fast enough. Really would need to kick these damn heels off first though, or they'd kill me first.

Once he had stepped from the podium, Iris and I turned away.

"Alright, basic info – just let me know how much I need to break down for your readers," I began. "Simon Stagg's work in cellular cloning has led to huge advancements in the future of organ replacement."

Iris's eyes lit up as a waiter walked past with a tray of champagne; she immediately took two of them. "Are journalists allow to drink on the job?"

I sighed, taking the glasses from her and setting them on a table they walked past. "If you're bored already, wait until we get to the science behind cellular regeneration." I teased with a grin.

"I've missed this, Berry." Iris said, linking arms with me. "It really feels like we haven't had a chance to spend any quality time together since you woke up."

"I know," I agreed. "Its been a really crazy week. We should totally make a girls' day soon. We can go through my wardrobe this weekend if you want. I slept through a change in seasons so I should probably be seeing what still fits..."

"You know I'm going to take you up on that! A girl should have more than three dresses and a couple skirts in her closet," Iris teased. "Especially with legs like yours!"

God, I hated keeping this secret from her, it wasn't fair Joe made me promise not to tell her...

And then Iris's eyes lit on the man of the hour. "Oh! Oh, Mr Stagg? I was wondering if I could get a quote for my article?"

"Not right now, miss," the bodyguard with him said.

"I'll just make something up," she sighed, with a hand-wave, causing me to snort in laughter. "So what were you going to tell me? You looked like you had something to say..."

Iris could read me like an open book. However as I opened my mouth to reply, I was interrupted by gunshots.

Panicked screams erupted form the other attendees and people were diving to the ground as masked men walked through, guns held up over their heads and firing into the ceiling.

"Quiet! All of you!"

"Oh my God!" Iris clung to my arm, practically dragging me to the floor with her while the gunman's leader shouted for quiet.

"How considerate!" the leader mocked the terrified party-goers. "You're all wearing your finest jewelry. Almost like you knew we were coming to rob you."

There had to be a way to stop them, I thought wildly, even as the gunman shouted for them to line up. The gunmen's goons had black bags opened as everyone was made to remove their valuables. The guy that held the bag for us eyed the young scientist's simple pair of tiny gold stud earrings.

Once they had collected the valuables , they began to leave. They couldn't just get away-without knowing I had started to step forward, but Iris hung off my arm.

"Don't!" she hissed before letting go.

And then the lone uniformed security guard arrived. His gun was trembling in his hands as the six robbers turned in unison. "F-freeze! D-drop your weapons!"

My eyes widened when the gunmen fired. I could see the bullets launched through the air and quickly kicked off my heels and blurred forward to tackled the guard out of their path; an ice sculpture behind him shattered to pieces. I left the security guard in the stairwell, and continued down to try and stop them before they could get away. However, as I began to turn around the exterior stairs, the lightheaded sensation came back with a vengeance.

I sagged against the concert wall, staggering forward a couple steps before darkness over took my vision...

 **8888**

"Berry! _Berry_!"

I could hear Iris's voice cracking in panic and felt myself being shook violently. Iris was pale as I looked up at her.

"Berry, what happened?! I turned around and you were gone and why were you on the ground-"

"I...was trying to go after them, to try and get the license plate number and then I...I think I fainted?" I blinked in confusion. "I just remember feeling so weak and lightheaded and then..."

"That's because you probably haven't eaten since dinner last night!" Iris groaned as she helped me back to my feet.

"Not true, I had breakfast this morning!" I retorted. "Ah, the dress, I didn't get it dirty did I?" I asked as we walked back; Iris checked me over and helped dust me off.

"Its fine, no tears or anything," Iris reassured me as we approached Joe and Eddie.

"Hi," Iris greeted Eddie and he lit up in relief.

"Iris!"

Joe gestured to me with his notepad, scowling. "And where were you?"

I bit my lip in embarrassment as Iris jumped to my defense. "Dad, go easy – I found her outside. She fainted."

Joe straightened while Eddie blinked over at me in confusion. "Do you need a paramedic, Allen?"

"N-no. I...just forgot to eat lunch, that's all." I reassured them.

Nearby we could hear the security guard I had rescued being interviewed; he held an ice pack to his neck.

"I thought I was dead I saw the gun go off and then-boom! I'm outside in the stairwell! I seriously have no idea how I got there." Oh, I know that look. Oops.

Joe gestured for me to follow him, much to Eddie and Iris's combined confusion. "Come here for a second."

Reluctant, I followed. Great I was going to get chewed out...again.

"You chased those gunmen, didn't you?" Joe asked as we walked.

"...yes. There were six of them and the shoes looked similar to the ones that make the treads from the gun store crime scene. I think it might be the same group."

"And what were you going to do when you caught them?" he demanded harshly and I cringed. "Ask them nicely to pull over? You're not bullet proof!"

He paused, eyeing me speculatively. "Wait. Are you?"

"No, but-"

"Okay, then no more heroics. Chasing the bad guys is not your job, its mine. I'm a cop. Promise."

My jaw clenched and spine straightened. "Promise." I forced out, and looked away from him.

He frowned. " And start making better excuses, Iris isn't stupid."

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "It wasn't an excuse..."

 **8888**

"You lied to us." Yeah, and I thought Caitlin was pissed earlier.

"How could you not tell us you were experiencing dizzy spells?! We are your doctors! God knows what's going on inside your body!" Caitlin was circling the cot I was on and I gave up trying to follow her with my eyes. I was dizzy enough. "Your cells are in a constant state of flux – you could be experiencing cardiopulmonary failure or a transient ischemic attack."

I blinked and looked to Dr. Wells for clarification.

"A mini-stroke." Seeing my eyes widen and my mouth fall open in fear had him quickly add, "But probably not." He quirked his lips into a faint smile for me, which honestly, did make me feel better.

Then I remembered that I was half dressed with the top half of my dress pooled around my waist so that they could hook me up to the machines for testing. I was in my underwear in front of Dr. Wells _again._ God damn it.

"And your heart rate and blood pressure are both up and your face is red-" Caitlin whirled, giving me a look only to pause when she saw that I was side-eyeing first Cisco and then Dr Wells.

"Well, I'm sitting half naked in front of two men." I hissed in embarrassment; due to the device, I really wasn't able to cross my arms over my breasts and having a bra wasn't good enough.

"Just pretend we're not here if it helps, Ms Allen." Dr. Wells said soothingly.

"It doesn't," I muttered, covering my blushing face. I took a breath and lowered my hands. "But I'll live. And I imagine I'll get used to it...eventually."

Caitlin took a breath and after a moment of seeming calm, gave me an angry look. "You of all people should know that in science, we share. We do not keep secrets!"

I watched the older woman stalk away, and let my shoulders slump in defeat.

"Wow..." Cisco whistled, "I have not seen anyone make her that angry since Ronnie..."

That name was familiar... I watched as Cisco followed after Caitlin.

Leaving me alone. Half dressed. With Dr. Wells, my idol. Who I had a massive crush on. This was the stuff of half-dreamed fantasies.

Oh God. Just kill me.

Alright, calm down you stupid hormones! Think about something else, anything else-

"Ronnie, that was her fiancee right? The one that..."

"Died the night of the particle accelerator explosion?" Dr Wells finished for me. "Yes. He is missed. Now, lets see if we can figure out why this is happening to you..."

If it meant I'd be fully dressed and not half-naked, I was all for it.

 **8888**

"We're all set!" Cisco announced as he walked around the stacked boxes with the STAR Labs logo emblazoned on them.

I stood there in borrowed sweatpants and sports bra, with sensors hooked up to my chest and upper abdomen, looking between the engineer and the boxes with visible disbelief and uncertainty.

"Oh don't worry, its just a little padding. You know...just in case," he tried to reassure me.

I made a noise that was between a sigh and a whine as he walked away to where Caitlin and Dr. Wells were sitting behind a console of computer monitors. Turning, I reluctantly approached the treadmill.

"...are you sure about this, Cisco?" I asked while gingerly stepped onto the treadmill.

"Most home treadmills have a limit for about twelve miles per hour," he told me and as I looked at him through the window, he gave me a thumbs up. "But this one has been Cisco'ed! Trust me, it can totally handle your speed."

"...alright," I sighed, feeling the machine activating.

I started at a walk, stretching the muscles my long legs before moving into a jog. Uncertain, I glanced at the window and saw Dr. Wells smile and give a slight salute, as though encouraging me. With that, I finally let loose, blurring as I ran.

It felt good to run, felt good that Dr. Wells believed in me. However, as I ran I could feel the lightheaded sensation creeping back up on me...

"Berenice," Dr. Wells said over the com, my heart skipping a beat. "I think we know why you keep-"

And then I faltered mid-stride, my last sensation that of being flung backwards through the air before seeing black.

 **8888**

I came to laying on a cot, my vision blurry. A groan escaped my lips as I tried to sit up; both Caitlin and Cisco helped me move upright.

"...did...I pass out again?" I asked hoarsely.

"Total metabolic failure brought on by acute hypoglycemia," Caitlin informed me.

"...so...I'm not eating enough...?" I frowned. "So, an IV bag and I'm alright again?"

Cisco snickered as he gestured over his shoulder at the IV pole.

"Try forty," Dr. Wells informed me and his lips quirked in a sardonic smile. "I guess you were thirsty."

As he sipped out of his travel mug, I quickly turned my head away to hide another Harrison Wells induced blush. It's embarrassing how little it takes.

"We're going to have to fashion you a new diet based on your metabolic changes." Caitlin said as she peered at me.

"I've done a few calculations," Cisco said. "You need to consume an amount equal to roughly 850 tacos...unless we're talking cheese and guacamole and then we're talking a whole different set of equations." I let out a short giggle and shook my head in amusement.

"For Mexican, I recommend Tito's," Came Joe's voice as he entered the room. "On Bruckner Avenue? Best burritos in the city."

He paused and did a double-take at the sight of my sports bra. "Young lady, what the hell is your shirt?"

"I was-it's- we needed the sensors!" I oh-so-eloquently defended myself.

"Detective West," Dr. Wells greeted from where he was leaning back in his wheelchair. "What brings you to STAR Labs?"

"While I looking for you I did a little research...into a red streak that's been seen around the city – stopping muggers, rescuing people from burning buildings..." Joe said and his hands went on his hips.

"You didn't tell him we were working together?" Dr. Wells asked me, turning his chair in my direction.

I felt my face start to burn _again_ as he arched his brows over his glasses at me. Glancing back at my foster father, I fidgeted. "Joe, I can explain..."

"You already have a job in law enforcement, Berry. I suggest you get back to it."

"Mh-hmm," Caitlin hummed in agreement and jerked a bit when Joe whirled to look at her. "Don't look at me, I'm on your side!"

"Detective, we all want what's best for Berenice," Dr. Wells said and I felt something pleasant swell up in my chest.

"If you wanted what was best for her, you'd be trying to talk her out of this lunacy instead of encouraging her to go out there risking her life!"

There was a smoldering in Dr. Wells eyes and my molars ground together as I abruptly stood.

"You saw a man control the weather, Joe," I stated, all eyes going to me. "What do you think the police can do against someone like that?"

Joe's lips pressed into a thin line.

I drove my point home; "The accelerator explosion didn't just make him and me. There are very likely more out there. A lot more. And not all of them are going to want to help people like me."

"And you're going to do what?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Catch them? Are you insane?"

I flinched back as though he'd slapped me, then narrowed my eyes in anger.

I had hoped that after stopping Mardon last week, he'd understand what I could do... But now it felt like instead of chiding me for chasing the impossible he was chiding me for being the impossible...

"You think because you can run real fast you are invincible? You're not - you're just a kid."

I watched in confusion as Joe's glare turned to Dr. Wells. "My kid."

"Joe. You have been there for me. I am grateful, so very grateful to have ended up with you and Iris..." I said, my hands clenching into the fabric of my sweatpants as I buried my hands into their pockets. "But I cannot forget that my father is sitting in Iron Heights for a crime he didn't commit."

I looked at him, feeling so very tired all of a sudden, the anger drained away into weariness. Part of me wanted to run away. Part of me wished I had been able to run away a week ago, before Joe had seen me when I stopped Mardon. "You admitted to me you were wrong about him. You have to realize, you are wrong about this too. I can help people, like I cannot help him. If that means running into a burning building or stopping some armed robbers...then I will." I stated in a hard voice.

Joe ran a hand over his face, shaking his head. There was a tightness around his eyes. "You think you're so smart. You all do. But you don't know what you don't know. And I hope you-" he sent a look at Dr. Wells, "Are clever enough to realize that before someone-" and here he jabbed a finger in my direction. "gets killed."

I watched him storm from the room; my knees were trembling and all I wanted to do was sink down onto the cot and have a good cry. Suddenly tired of everything that's happened today, I leaned back and sat onto the end of the med-bay cot and buried my face in my hands. Faintly I could hear the whir of Dr. Wells' wheelchair and there was a light brush against my knee. At the contact, I looked down and into his eyes.

"He'll come around," Dr. Wells reassured. "He'll see what an extraordinary young woman you are."

 **8888**

After I ran the DNA tests on the skin samples Joe brought me, and learning that they were what _baby cells should be,_ shit went south fast.

I couldn't help but feel terrified as I ran towards where Joe was supposed to be, and felt it turn into my old friend rage when I arrived to see three identical gunmen shooting at Joe from where he was hiding for cover. Flashing forward, I plucked the guns from their hands, only stopping when I was beside Joe. The trio of guns clattered on the floor beside where he was crouched.

"Go." I demanded.

He looked to the guns and then at me before shaking his head. "No."

I felt my eye twitch and literally dragged him from his hiding place and tossed him out the back door in a burst of speed. The door slammed shut behind him.

Returning to the trio, I could see the look of surprise on the man's face.

"I don't know who you are or why you're doing this, but please just give yourself up. I don't want to have to fight you." I tell him calmly, although a small, horrible part of me _wanted_ him to put up a fight. It has been a long, frustrating day, and I was feeling stressed.

"Sorry," the one in the middle said with a shake of his head. "We aren't going anywhere." Then in unison, said, "Not until Simon Stagg is dead."

"Okay, that's just creepy," I complained before speeding forward to knock the two on the sides into several boxes, making sure that they _felt_ my smaller fists.

The man grunted in frustration before suddenly separating into three more.

Well.

I backed up as they approached and finally kicked one of the new copies away when he got too close. Another got my fist in the chin, and I grit my teeth and feeling the skin tear at my knuckles. He stumbled back a step and shook his head before furrowing his brows at me. The third got a kick to the center of his chest, which made...more copies.

Oh fucking damn it.

Surrounded on all sides, I felt like I was about to have a flashback to my younger days getting crowded and beaten up by Tony Woodward and his gang.

No room to run, no room to maneuver.

Fists and feet flew as I tried to fight them off, I desperately tried to suck in air as I was punched, kicked, and shoved around despite my best attempts to dodge. Was this really all I could do now that I had actual _powers?_

Panic gripped my lungs in an icy fist as one of the copies grabbed me from behind and pinned my arms to my sides. "Let go of me!" I hissed, and tried to squirm free.

He grunted, shifting to regain his grip, and pressed a hand down on my chest and painfully grabbed a handful of my boob. We both froze, which caused the other copies to freeze in confusion.

"You're a girl?" he asked, and squeezed questioningly.

My whole body burned in rage and embarrassment and without even thinking, I slammed my head back into his face and broke free. Deciding that I wasn't winning this battle, I sped out of there and didn't stop until I was a couple miles away and sagged forward against a fence, trembling in humiliation and anger.

 **8888**

I let out a pained growl as Caitlin gently daubed at my split lip with a sterile sponge dipped in alcohol.

"Sorry," Caitlin apologized. "The abrasions are already rapidly healing, so you should be feeling better soon." There was a small smile on her face and a gentle look in her eyes. If she was trying to cheer me up, she apparently had no grasp of how to actually console people. I feared for any small children she ever spoke to, any elderly she ever passed near, and any person who ever tried to make contact with her, because she was either an evil, soul-less demon who preyed on peoples sorrow, or more socially awkward than _me._ I fiercely resisted the urge to bare my teeth and snarl at her. Instead, I fisted handfuls of the fabric of my jeans.

"You got blood on my suit!" Cisco said from where he was inspecting it. I took a deep breath and let it out in a dark chuckle. "Oh, I'm sure some of it is his." I rolled my eyes soon after and mentally tried to reel in the darker, angrier side of me. "Another _not_ so friendly meta-human."

I ignored the curious looks the others were giving me and stared straight ahead before giving my full attention to Dr. Wells as he announced, "Danton Black."

I looked at the monitor and saw the one that I had fought. "He's a bio-geneticist specialized in therapeutic cloning..." Dr. Wells glanced over at me as he elaborated, "Growing new organs to replace failing ones."

"Apparently, Stagg stole his research and then fired him." Caitlin added.

"I saw him create duplicates from his own body," I told them.

"That's pretty ironic," Cisco piped up. "The guy specialized in cloning and now he can make xerox copies of himself."

Dr. Wells made a faint hum. "If he was experimenting on himself when he was exposed to the dark matter wave released the night the particle accelerator explosion-"

"Meet Captain Clone!" Cisco said, grinning hugely and when me and Caitlin both gave him a less than impressed look, added: "Don't worry, I'll come up with something cooler."

Biting my lower lip, I turned back to look at the picture of Black on the monitor. A wave of uselessness pressed down on me and I angrily bit down too hard and drew blood. "Berry!" Caitlin cried when she saw blood start to run down my chin. The men in the room turned at her cry. I jumped up and stalked away.

"Where are you going?" Caitlin asked, wringing her hands in worry. I turned back to look at them, knowing that I wasn't doing a good job at hiding my negative emotions from my eyes. "Joe was right...I'm in over my head. I'm fast but...I don't know how to actually fight! This isn't like schoolyard brawls, this is a guy who is older and more experienced than me, he knows what to hit to take a person down! He was intentionally attack my weak points." I admitted, sounding pathetic and miserable. "I can barely fight one meta-human, much less six..." I started towards the door again.

"Berenice," My body betrayed me as it stopped when hearing Dr. Wells' voice. I turned back around to face him and saw him move his chair towards me. "I understand, today was a setback. But any grand enterprise has them. you can never learn to fly without crashing a few times."

I looked at him and sucked in my abused lip in thought. His eyes darted down at the motion and narrowed slightly. I let it go with a sigh and turned again. I didn't want this remarkable man to see me like this. "I need to clear my head."

With that, I was off in a blur, speeding around the city.

 **8888**

I had just finished a much needed meal and trying not to feel like more of a piece of shit than I already did for lying to Iris when my phone vibrated. I fished it out of my pants pocket at peered at the screen. STAR Labs was calling.

My gut clenched as I answered the phone. "Yes?"

"You need to get to STAR Labs right now," there was a stress in Caitlin's voice I've never heard before.

My earlier annoyance at her melted into worry as I looked over at Iris. "I'm on my way." I hung up and said to Iris, "Write the story you want to write, I know it'll be great."

"What's wrong, you look worried?"

I shook my head. "I don't know, Caitlin sounded...I need to go."

 **8888**

I ran into the Cortex at top speed and saw Black standing there in front of Cisco and Caitlin. I felt a wave of calm sweep over me, before I was suddenly there in front of him, cracking my fist so hard and fast into his face that gold lightning danced off my whole arm.

I watched in sick satisfaction as his body was hurled backwards from the force and was about to follow before Caitlin grabbed my arm.

"Berry, it's okay!"

I threw her a quick baffled glance before quickly returning my gaze to the man who was still on the floor. "It's not okay, he's here and he's just..." I trailed off as I looked more closely at his blank face as he just stared straight up at the ceiling. "Laying there...is this not him?"

"No," Dr. Wells said while wheeling forward. "It's one of his replicants."

"...how did you get it?" I asked, finally tearing my eyes back to the him, Caitlin, and Cisco.

"I grew him." Caitlin said in tone that sounded way too proud given the situation.

When I just stared at her, Caitlin waved me over to one of the consoles. "I isolated a sample from his blood off your suit to see if I could trigger then invitro cultivation process and learn how Black multiplies." I was tentatively nudging the replicant in the leg with a foot as Caitlin explained. "So I exposed the target cells to a protein gel and they began replicating into...that."

"Okay..." I bent over him and waved a hand in front of his face. "So why isn't he...it?...doing anything?"

"We did a brain scan," Dr. Wells said. "The involuntary motor functions are active, but little else."

"We think its acting as a receiver," Cisco added.

"The clones are an empty shell without Black guiding them," Caitlin told me. "Shut down the real Black and you should be able to shut them all down."

"...okay. Then how do we know which one is the real Danton Black?" I asked.

"That actually occurred to me from your own fainting – he has limits just like you." she explained. "Controlling that many clones must require a tremendous amount of physical strength. So look for signs of fatigue or other weakness and then...you'll have the prime."

"Its just a theory," Dr. Wells said, "But one you might want to put to the test, Ms Allen."

"And, I whipped up these high-calorie protein bars for you. To you know...not faint," Cisco said, passing me a handful of large bars of some sort of processed...something.

Suddenly, the replicant sat up with enough urgency and force to smack his head into my fucking tit _again_. Caitlin screamed in fright and I stumbled back with a shout of "Motherfucker!" and accidentally ran into something sitting behind me. Then, as the clone stood up, gunshots echoed and it staggered back, hitting the floor. Standing in the doorway, gun still ready was Joe.

"There any more of them?" he asked.

"Nope," Caitlin squeaked.

I hissed in pain and held a hand over my damaged area. "Unbelievable," I muttered, shooting the now dead clone a dark look. "The bastard just _had_ to hit the same one he grabbed before."

I felt a pressure increase to an almost painful level and I looked down in confusion to see a large hand gripping my hip. I whipped my head around to see that the thing I had stumbled into earlier was _Wells._

"Shit, sorry sir," I stuttered out and hurried to take a step away and out of his space. My body tingled where his hand slipped from where it had been resting. "...Grabbed?" he asked. Something in that deceptively soft tone made the tingle spread like wild fire.

I swallowed and nodded, unable to tear my eyes away from his burning blue. "Yeah, from behind. He needed me still so that the others could pummel me and he had a hand on my chest and he-" I bit off the rest of my sentence and stomped down on the anger that the situation kept pulling forward. "Anyway," I refocused back on him and was startled to see an intense, almost hungry _something_ swimming in those blue pools. "He knows I'm a girl now..." I finish lamely, suddenly unsure if I should have even brought this up in front of him.

"Why did it start moving?!" Cisco asked, unaware that he and the others had just interrupted.

"The Prime," Dr. Wells replied, not taking his eyes off me. "My guess is that the Prime is on the move and this one has heard the summons to battle."

"And I know where he was summoned to," Joe said as he holstered his weapon. "Stagg Industries." then he took a look at me and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "Uh, Berry? You know you're in public, right?"

I blinked at him, wondering what the hell that had to do with anything, when I saw Cisco point down towards my chest with a silly grin. I glanced down and my shoulders sagged in dismay. I had unknowingly been kneading my poor abused tit ever since I was assaulted. I quickly dropped my hand and could practically feel the heat waves coming off my cheeks from my blush. "What?" I snapped at the now laughing Cisco. "It fucking hurt!"

I felt a light touch at my wrist and looked down to see Dr. Wells looking up at me with concern and amused sympathy. "Are you alright, Berenice?"

I let out a sigh and managed to give him an embarrassed, half smile. "Yeah, I'll be okay, Dr. Wells." Before I could give myself time to change my mind, I shifted so that I could clutch his hand in my smaller one for a brief moment in thanks. For me, it felt like minutes.

I turned back to Joe and caught his eye. "You should call it in," I said calmly.

"The police can't fight this," Joe disagreed. "There's no training they have for something this. What Black has become, what Mardon was...is beyond me. Beyond them. The only person this isn't beyond? Is you. You have to stop him."

Well this was a complete one-eighty of what he had been saying yesterday...

"Now for once in your life do what I tell you to do," Joe told me, and walked over and place a hand on my shoulder. "Go stop him."

I stared at him for a moment, before nodding with a small smile.

 **8888**

I had gotten there just in time; Black was aiming it weapon at Stagg when I speed through, scooping him out of harms way. Depositing him in his office I pointed at him reproachfully. "Stay here."

And with that, I blurred back to into the building; there were numerous copies of Black walking around, each armed. I took a breath.

"I know what Simon Stagg did to you, but that doesn't give you the right to commit murder," I announced, and the nearest replicant had his weapon trained on me.

He fired and I could see the bullet hurtle through the air; twisting my body, I let it impact into the wall behind me. Clenching my jaw, I sped forward, disarming him and the others I came across, knocking them down from the force my speed was generating.

Standing up on a catwalk, I scanned for the prime, the real Danton Black. I turned, seeing one approaching me, frowning as he harshly ground out: "You think this is about my job?"

Taking the chance he might be the real one, I sped forward, grabbing him and dragging him behind a pillar. When we had stopped moving he snapped, "This is about Elizabeth!"

"She was my wife," another copy said behind us and open fired right as I blurred to the side; the bullet struck the one I had hoped was the Prime. Guess he wasn't.

"She had a degenerative coronary disease," Black continued as he stalked forward, weapons sweeping back and forth as he searched for me. "She had been on the transplant list for years, but...time was running out. So if I couldn't get her a new heart-"

"You were going to grow her one," I said softly; he whirled and opened fire. Again I had sped to the side and the bullet took out one of the copies.

"I was so close," he howled and for a moment I wondered if he was talking about trying to shoot me now. "And then Stagg stole my research so he could reap upon the glory. And I got to bury my best friend. Now I'm alone."

I sped forward, a blur of red and golden lightning to knock him off his feet with a full-body tackle. I glared down at the man I was pinning. "And you think by doing this, you'll avenge her? All you're doing is making Stagg look like some sort of hero!"

"You don't understand anything, you're just some stupid little girl!" He slapped me away, sending me reeling.

Standing he backed up a couple steps and with a grunt...so many copies emerged from his body. Enraged and wary, I scrambled back to my feet as the copies encircled me. They charged in, closing ranks. Feet and fists flew and once again I found myself being pummeled. Fear started to kick in and I pulled on my speed,spinning around and creating enough force to knock the outer ring back and create an opening for me to speed through.

My chest was tight and my breathing has harsh as I skidded to a halt, dropping to my knees outside the building. I was on the verge of a panic attack, I could feel it building-

"Remember, Berry, you must find the prime," Caitlin said in my ear.

"There's too many of them!" I said tightly, my breath coming in wheezing gasps.

"Berenice," Dr. Wells's voice rolled through the comm and down my spine. "You need to isolate the prime."

"I..." My fists clenched in hopelessness. "I can't. Its impossible."

"Nothing is impossible!" Joe disagreed. "You taught me that, young lady. You can do this!"

There was a sound coming towards me as I rose up. Turning I saw a vast army of the clones walking towards me in perfect unison. I took a breath and let out a battle cry as I sped forward, gold lightning trailing in my wake.

I didn't plow through, per-say, as dart and weave through the ranks, using the force I was generating to knock the copies out of my path. As I ran I looked for him, for the real Danton Black. And it was at the back of the pack, that I saw him.

There was a look of concentration on his face as sweat beaded and rolled down his forehead and cheeks. I barreled into him, dragging him back inside the building, up a flight of stairs and onto a catwalk; he hit the ground, unconscious.

"Berry?" Joe called. "Are you alright?"

Leaning against the catwalk's railing, I panted for breath. My eyes widened as below I could see all the copies on the ground unconscious as well. A faint laugh of disbelief escaped me.

"Blue-Berry, you better answer me or so help me-"

"I'm fine," I laughed breathlessly. "I did it. Its done."

Something shifted behind me and I turned to see Black was back on his feet and charging at me. Thinking he meant to tackle, I sidestepped out of the way...

...but he didn't stop running, choosing to barrel into the window.

Speeding forward, I managed to grab him by the wrists as he was falling through the broken glass; his greater weight had my body slamming down, almost being dragged out the window with him. I hooked a foot in one of the catwalk's spindles...but his weight...he outweighed me by so much. My arms screamed and I grunted in pained exertion. "W—what are you doing?! Hold on!"

"No," he ground out and there were hands sprouting out of his forearms.

"Please don't!" I pleaded despite the strain.

He almost looked sad as the newly sprouted hands were peeling back my fingers. "No!" I screamed as he fell to the ground. I could only watch in shock as his body impacted with the ground with a heavy thud.

"Oh my God..." I whispered. I never wanted the man to die...

 **8888**

I was watching the news cast, hugging myself tightly. "...I'm sorry," I whispered, eyes glued to the picture of Black on the monitor. "I tried to save him, really..."

"Some people don't want to be saved," Dr. Wells said softly.

His chair wheeled up beside me and I looked down at him, my vision swimming slightly from unshed, guilty tears.

"Some people, when they break...can't be put back together again," he said.

"Some people heal even stronger." I replied, looking at his chair and then into his eyes.

"I hope so," he replied.

For a moment, time seemed to stop. My heart thumped in my chest, and emboldened from not being scolded from my earlier contact, reached out towards his shoulder, gently brushing my fingers over the fabric of his shirt in a reassuring manner. The tingle started up again, slowly.

And then Cisco spoke up behind us, reminding me that he and Caitlin were still there: "At least Multiplex won't be able to hurt anyone else."

I flinched slightly and looked over at the engineer. He grinned cheekily at me. "Told you I'd come up with a good name."

I glanced between the three scientists and smiled faintly. "You know...I may be the one in the suit doing all the running...but when I'm out there helping all those people, making a difference, you three are right there with me."

My head tilted as I regarded them. "I realized something. We all were struck by that lightning."


	3. Things You Can't Outrun

**8888**

It was nice being out and about with Iris. A girls' night at the movies was just what we needed since I woke up from my coma.

As we filed out of the movie theater, I couldn't help but comment, "One a regular movie scale I'd give it a seven or eight. Zombie movie scale? A four, tops."

"There's a zombie movie scale?" Iris snickered.

"Of course. And did you know there are actual zombies that exist?" I asked and Iris arched her eyebrows at me. "Not like in the movies – there's this fungi that infests ants..."

I trailed off at Iris's expression. "I started going full nerd again didn't I?"

"You did," she chortled. "Lucky for you, Blueberry, you're the most adorkable girl I know. I'll have to see if I can find you someone who can enjoy that trait as much as you do."

I blushed as a certain dark haired man came to mind. "...Yeah..." _He_ certainly didn't seem to mind my adorkable traits...

"Oh sweetie, I know that look. I know how much you like him but I doubt he's looking for romance right now, not after well..." Iris trailed off, not wanting to bring up the night the particle accelerator exploded.

I opened my mouth to glumly agree, when I suddenly recalled what had happened yesterday before leaving STAR Labs...

 **FLASHBACK**

 _"Hey, Cisco! Do you mind if I take a quick pic of you for my contact information?" I asked, holding up my phone for emphasis._

 _"Yeah, no prob, girl! Let me strike a sick pose," he grinned and quickly threw up his hands in a silly pose. I giggled and quickly snapped a picture. I nodded my thanks and turned to Caitlin, only for her to shake her head. "Nope, I don't really like pictures..."_

 _"Oh, come on Caitlin! Just one? I'll even take a selfie with you, please?" I begged, trying to convince her to do this for me. If both Cisco_ and _Caitlin let me take their pictures, then maybe_ he _would too..._

 _With that particular prize in mind, I looked at her with my most pitifully sad puppy eyes. These babies have gotten me out of quite a few well-deserved groundings and detentions._

 _Caitlin blinked at me rapidly before letting out a loud sigh and threw her hands up. "Oh,_ fine!" _I grinned in triumph and quickly flashed over to her and tilted my head with hers in a cute pose for the camera. Done, I steeled myself and looked over to Dr. Wells, who was watching our antics with an amused smile. It widened slightly when he caught my gaze and raised eyebrow in question. I sent him my biggest, most charming smile, and tilted my head. Something flashed across his blue orbs even faster than even_ I _could see before he let out a chuckle. "Alright," he sighed in a put-upon tone, then grinned at me to let me know that he was teasing. "Get over here, Ms. Allen." He patted his shoulder and I barely kept the squeal from bursting out of my throat._ Harrison Wells _was going to let_ me _take a selfie with him!_

 _I was at his side so fast that I practically teleported and pretended to fiddle with my phone to buy me a second to think about how I wanted to do this. Deciding to be bold, I stepped so that I was behind his wheelchair and wrapped my unoccupied arm around his shoulders so that his neck was resting in the crook of my elbow, and my hand just_ happened _to rest on his hard, sculpted chest. I took in a sharp, silent breath at the feel of his muscles and took in an unintentional whiff of his scent. His shirt was way to well-fitted for my piece of mind._

 _I was distracted even further when that same tingle from when he steadied me with his hand on my hip the other day erupted from where we touched. It was almost like there was a low hum of electricity running through my nerves, shockingly similar to what I feel when I'm running..._

 _Dr. Wells took a deep breath through his nose and lifted a hand to his face to remove his glasses and set them on his lap. I snapped out of my aroused daze and brought my other arm out so that my phone was facing us at a decent length so that it could catch the whole upper half of our bodies in the shot. I stared back at myself and saw the widest, happiest smile on my face that I have ever seen, and then looked at Dr. Wells, and saw the sexiest of smiles on his face, his face devoid of his glasses making his beautiful, blue eyes look like they were burning me alive._

 _...Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..._

 _I could feel my face get hot and quickly snapped the picture before my face got redder than my suit and ruined the photo. Torn between being happy and disappointed that it was already over, I reluctantly moved back up from where I was crouched behind him and nonchalantly started to drag my hand across his chest, sparks under my skin chasing me all the way. My palm had almost reached his collarbone when one of his own hands stopped it's progress. My blush quickly died away, dread settling in my stomach. Did I finally cross a line?_

 _His head tilted back so that he could meet my eyes with a slightly raised eyebrow and gave me a lopsided grin that stole my breath away. "Would you mind if I took a picture for my own contact info? I already have your number; all I need is an I.D." I looked back at him blankly, not quite believing my luck. God, his_ eyes... _I was way too close to him to function..._

 _OR maybe not close enough, the stray thought flitted into my head, and I quickly tossed it back out, not needing that direction of thought to fluster me any further. The man himself is more than enough. "Yeah, of course!" I grinned back at him and all-too happily settled back into my earlier pose while he set up his own phone's camera. An idea formed, and I quickly jammed my phone into my back jeans' pocket so that I had my other hand free and settled it on his sleeve covered bicep, silently marveling at how well the cloth hugged his arms. I focused my drifting eyes back to his phone and tried to seem innocent as I smiled with him for the selfie. My arm pressed a little closer to Dr. Wells' neck as he moved his other arm out to point his phone at us. I continued to smile for a few seconds, waiting for Dr. Wells to take the picture, and then suddenly blinked in confusion when he shifted in the screen. I started to turn my head towards him in curiosity when I felt something smooth and soft on my cheek, dangerously close to the corner of my mouth._

 _I froze, my eyes the only thing capable of movement as they dashed back to the screen to confirm what I thought was happening._

 _Dr. Wells was kissing my cheek. His blue eyes were hidden away behind his eye lids and I could see the side of his lip curled up in a smile as he pressed his pink lips firmly against my skin. I felt my face erupt in scorching heat, and my smile fell a bit in sheer disbelief and joy. I vaguely registered the phone snapping the shot, and my brain didn't really reboot until I felt his lips retreat with a soft, wet smacking sound. I blinked stupidly at the saved picture staring back at me, of my tomato-red face, a ridiculous expression, I realized in horror, that Dr. Wells now had to look at when ever he pleased. At some point, maybe simultaneously, he other hand had come up to lightly settle his fingers under my chin, and his thumb was pressed into my jaw, as if to hold me there. I hadn't even_ felt _that!_ _His_ _phone left my line of sight, and I quickly stood up straight and out of Dr. Wells space as he settled his glasses back on his face and looked up at me with an almost cheeky_ _smile. "Thank you for that wonderful picture, Berenice," he paused and ran his eyes across my flaming face in what looked like amusement. "I do find your blushes quite endearing." He flashed me a smirk before wheeling over to where Cisco and Caitlin were (thankfully) fully engaged over something on one of the monitors, missing our moment (and it_ was _a moment, I thought feeling lightheaded) completely._

 _I just stared after his retreating form dumbly, wondering what the fuck had just happened, and hoping that I didn't wake up..._

 ** _FLASHBACK_**

Iris bumped shoulders with me, bringing me back to the present. "You know I am all the more interested in the amazing of late..."

"You mean 'cause of the 'red streak' thing?" I asked, thankful for the distraction from my own confusing thoughts. Nobody needed to know about what happened between me and Dr. Wells, especially not before I was completely sure what was happening with us...

"Yup. He's out there! So many people are seeing him and talking about him,"

"So how do you know its a he? Could be a she," I said, trying to drop a hint.

"Hmm. Maybe. But a lot of people think it's a he, so I'm defaulting to he. Would be cool if the red streak was a woman though..." Iris fished out her phone, pulling up a picture to show to me. "See this what someone took when they were being pulled from a car accident."

I blinked at the screen and let out a small giggle, "No its not. That's your boyfriend calling."

"Oh! I should totally get this, I'm staying over and he's supposed to leave a key for me..." Iris took the call and I felt a twinge of envy watching my sister's eye light up like that.

The only man that made me feel like that was Dr. Wells but...Iris was probably right. He probably just saw me as a kid he was mentoring...he was so much older and mature that I was and still grieving Tess Morgan...there's no way he kissed me on the cheek because he _liked_ me, right? I really need to meet someone.

As Iris wandered away to throw away her empty soda cup, my own phone rang. I pulled it out of my back pocket and sighed at seeing Cisco's goofy profile picture. So much for girls' night. "Hello?"

"There's a code 237 on Waid boulevard," Cisco informed me and I looked at my phone as though Cisco could see the incredulous look I was giving him.

Placing the phone back up I repeated: "Public indecency?!"

"Oh...wait I think I mean a 239?"

"Dog leash violation?" I repeated in growing confusion.

"Bad man with a gun in a getaway car!" Caitlin interjected. "Go!"

I glanced over at Iris; good still wrapped up in her conversation. I quickly took off towards Waid Boulevard. It wasn't hard to find the vehicle in question – the driver was shooting at a squad car. In a crackle of lightning, I sped forward, disarming the gunman and pulling him from the driver's side of the pickup and depositing him into the back of the squad car, his hands cuffed securely.

Bad dude taken care of, I sped back to Iris's side and got there just as Iris hung up and turned around.

"Did you guys figure everything out?" I asked.

"Yup. Eddie says hi, by the way."

"Cool. You now he should totally just give you a key. You two have been together how long now?" I asked in curiosity as we walked off, arm in arm. I sniffed the air as we passed by a restaurant, "Oh, something smells good. We should totally try this place next movie night..."

"Ooh it does smell good. I might have to drop hints to Eddie...maybe see about a double date? Some of his friends are single..."

I sighed and decided that maybe a night with a cute guy could help take care of the itch I've been having and help clear the cloud of raging hormones that seemed to always corrupt my thoughts around my handsome idol.

"Okay, okay...I'll let you put me through a blind date if it makes you happy."

 **8888**

"Berry?" Joe's voice drifted to me as I covered the man's face.

"Mmm?"

"Anything?"

My head tilted back to regard him, my brows drawn together in thought. "They show signs of histotoxic hypoxia..."

There was a blank look on Joe's face and I continued. "The cells in their body were unable to utilize oxygen...its consistent with exposure to some sort of poison gas."

He looked more than a little alarmed. "What kind of poison?"

"I'd need a biopsy of their lung tissue to determine that," I sighed.

"The only other exit was bolted from the inside," Eddie told us as he walked up. "They were trapped. I'm thinking maybe someone pumped gas in from the outside...but the witnesses say the street was empty."

"So it was from the inside? That means there has to be a canister or container that was left behind," Joe said, even as I rose to my feet, my green gaze sweeping over the crime-scene. "I mean this gas couldn't have just come in by itself..."

His eyes met mine and I shook my head in disagreement. Joe's brow arched and he looked over at Eddie. "Why not try canvassing again? Someone had to have seen something..."

"With how busy it was last night, definitely," I agreed.

"You were here?" Joe looked surprised.

"Not in here but Iris and I walked this past this place on the way home from the movies last night. And it was pretty crowded on the sidewalk," I replied.

"I'll check the traffic cameras again, see if there's anything suspicious," Eddie said and headed off.

Joe tilted his head. "You looked like you had something else you wanted to say, Blueberry."

"The way they are all located...the way they fell...it couldn't have been a canister," I stood, gesturing to the respective bodies bodies. "The boss, he's collapsed here by the table. This other man, is ten feet away. While this guy was able to get all the way over there and still try to shoot out the window."

"...and...?"

"They all started at the same spot, the table. If they were all exposed by the gas at the same time they shouldn't have been able to move this far away. Its like the gas was attacking them one by one..." I looked over at him. "This defies normal science and that means to solve this, you and I are going to need-"

"Back up," Joe sighed. "From your new friends."

"Yep."

 **8888**

"Fascinating...a meta-human that can use poison gas..." Dr. Wells looked back and forth between where Joe and I stood on the other side of the monitors.

"Is it just poisonous gas, or can he control all aerated substances?" Cisco asked as he and Caitlin headed over to their computers located beside Dr. Wells.

"And how is he able to formulate the concoction? Is it psychological or physiological?" Caitlin pondered as she sat down.

"This individual can create a mental nexus using gaseous substances," Dr. Wells was tapping away on his keyboard.

"You mean connect to gases on a molecular level?" Cisco's eyes went huge as he looked over at Dr. Wells.

"Yes," Dr. Wells nodded.

"This is ridiculously cool," Cisco whispered in glee.

I couldn't help but smile at their excitement, my eyes lingering on Dr. Wells quirked lips and gleaming blue eyes. I saw Joe give me a look in my peripherals and gave him a 'What can you do?' shrug. "They get very excited about this sort of stuff." _And it is ridiculously cute._

"The only thing I'm excited about is putting criminals behind bars," Joe retorted and frowned in concern. "Except Iron Heights isn't equipped to handle meta-humans..."

"Then its fortunate the ones you have encountered so far are no longer with us," Dr. Wells said as he glanced up from his monitor again.

"Well, unless we're planning to execute ever single super criminal we come across, you geniuses are going to have to come up with some way to contain them..."

"A Meta- human prison? Sweet..." Cisco whistled and Joe gave a faint shrug of agreement.

"Unless we can find a way to remove or suppress their powers..." Dr. Wells replied. "If we can do than, then they can be contained in any regular prison..."

"There is only one place that might be able to hold them," there was a hesitation in Cisco's voice.

"You can't be serious," Caitlin and Dr. Wells were both looking at the younger man. I blinked at him while Joe felt more than a little lost. "I mean, we haven't been down there since-" she stopped and took a jerky breath and finished: "Its cordoned off."

"Cisco is right," Dr. Wells said softly. "It could be modified to act as a make-shift prison..."

"What could?" I blinked at him in bafflement.

Dr. Wells's blue eyes piercing into my green and I willed that damnable blush down as he answered, "The Particle Accelerator."

Oh.

I watched the color drain from Caitlin's face as she looked down at her hands, that no longer rested on her keyboard.

"Caitlin?" Dr. Wells was trying to get her attention. "Caitlin? Did you hear me? We're going down to the accelerator ring."

"Actually, Dr. Wells," I interjected, my heart going out to the flicker of terror and pain that just went through Caitlin's eyes, "I could actually use her help up here analyzing the poison gas..."

Dr. Wells glanced between us and nodded. "Okay."

"If that's okay with you?" I asked Caitlin hesitantly. She gave me a small smile in gratitude.

"Lets go."

 **8888**

For someone with super speed waiting could be torture. The results seemed to be lingering at eighty-four percent forever. I'd already finished the fingerprint analyze on the gun and other simple tasks, up to and including cleaning my lab from top to bottom.

Looking over at where Caitlin sat, I could see the older woman was perhaps equally as bored, going though her phone.

"...is it alright if I ask you a question you don't have to answer...?" I asked hesitantly.

"My least favorite kind," Caitlin sighed before giving a nod with a grimace. "Go on."

"Ronnie – what was he like...?" I cringed as Caitlin looked over the monitor to pin me with a look. "I just...you never talk about him much..."

Caitlin seemed to relent. "We...meet while working on the particle accelerator. He was the structural engineer and he liked to joke he was basically a high-priced plumber."

She smiled faintly and the sadness in her eyes made me regret asking. Caitlin kept speaking though, as she moved towards the printer. "We were...very different. You've probably noticed I can be quite...guarded. But he...Ronnie knew how to make me laugh. He always would say we were like fire and ice."

The way Caitlin was looking at her left ring finger had me leaving my chair and moving around the desk to place a supportive hand on Caitlin's shoulder. The older woman trembled as she said softly: "He wasn't supposed to be there that night. He was there to be with me.. If he hadn't-"

The printer right beside Caitlin whirred, spitting out the results we've been waiting for. She snatched it up before I could.

"This says there is no residue of gas in the tissue, poisonous or otherwise."

I fought the urge to swear. "It must have evaporated... We'll need to get a fresh sample..."

"Wait...this can't be right..." Caitlin was frowning as she continued to read over the printout; she handed the print out to me. "It says there are two distinct strands of DNA in the tissue!"

Glancing between the printout and the monitor of my computer, I frowned as well. "How did someone else's DNA get inside the victim's lungs?" Leaning forward, I began to run the foreign DNA though the database as Caitlin paced back and forth behind me. It beeped back at me after a few moments. "There's no DNA match in the database..."

Caitlin stopped her pacing to lean in over my shoulder to view the monitor. "I don't understand, why would a chemical attack leave behind another person's DNA inside the victim?"

My thoughts racing, I looked over at the other woman. "What if the meta-human we're looking for doesn't control gas...but becomes it?"

The police scanner crackled to life on my desk as the dispatcher's voice filled the lab. "All available units, we have reports of a toxic gas attack in Central City shopping mall."

I was on my feet and Caitlin reached for my shoulder. "Berry, no! We don't know what were facing it's not safe for you to go out there!"

"...Caitlin, I have to!" I pleaded with my new friend. "People are in danger. And I'm not going in alone. I'll have you, Cisco, and Dr. Wells there with me."

With that, I ran off in a flash.

 **8888**

"I patched into the mall's security system," Cisco said in my ear as I raced towards the Mall. "According to the witnesses the attack took place in the North Wing."

"Which one if the North Wing?" I asked.

"The one with the Big Belly Burger," Dr. Wells told her. Cisco must have given him a look because next I heard: "I eat." I couldn't help the small smile that flitted on my face at that.

I sped through the crowd in a red blur and was beside the victim, checking for a pulse.

Nothing.

Time seemed to have stopped for everyone else as I rose up, looking around and into the crowd for something or someone that looked out of place. And then I saw it, a trail of green gas leading through a still partially open door.

I sped forward after it and skidded to a halt in time to see the green gas taking solid shape, turning back into a stocky bald man.

"Why did you kill that woman?" I shouted at his back in anger. He turned slowly.

Was he...wheezing? It sounded like he was wheezing as he spoke. "Because she deserved to die. No go run away, I still have one more name on my list – don't make me add you to it."

The rage bubbled in my insides at his arrogance, his lack of regard for what he had done and I lunged forward at super speed, charging at him. When I tried to grab him, it was like my hand went through him and he smirked. His form seemed to waver before he slammed a fist against my face, sending me to the ground.

My fucking face hurt and I wondered for a moment of he had loosened any of my teeth or broke my cheekbone. Damn, he was strong.

I was up, lashing out with a punch to his midsection. This time he turned into that sickly green gas that swirled past me. I spun and felt terror replace the anger as the gas filled the hallway before it lunged at me.

It felt like he had punched me in the face _again_ and I was sent flying back into the wall. I pushed myself back to my feet and that was when a tendril of the gas came at me, circling around my throat, forcing itself up into my nostrils and mouth.

It burned my lungs and I gasped while slumping forward onto my hands and knees as the gas retreated back. My vision was darkening and I couldn't breath, Oh God I couldn't breath and I was _scared-_

I hit the ground fully and faintly heard Dr. Wells in my ear; there was concern in his voice, making it tighter, harsher.

"Berenice? Berenice, can you hear me?"

"Her-" I could barely hear what Cisco was saying as I pushed myself back to my feet.

Run.

I had to run.

Back to STAR Labs.

Back to Dr. Wells.

I almost barreled into the monitor. To be honest the journey between the mall and STAR Labs was something I didn't remember. It had probably been done on autopilot.

Turning to Dr. Wells, I gasped, wheezing as I reached out for him in despair. "I can't breath!"

I sagged, falling towards the wheelchair bound scientist. He caught me, a strong hand on my bicep and literally hauled me into his lap as I gasped desperately for air. My lungs burned _burned_ **burned-**

"She needs oxygen!" Dr. Wells said to Cisco. "Get the crash cart! We need to stabilize her for Caitlin!"

Things were getting dimmer, but I could feel Dr. Well's arms, strong and reassuring, around me, holding me on his lap and it...made things less scary.

 **8888**

Perhaps it was the fact I couldn't breath and my vision was dimming, that the fact that my suit's jacket was open and baring my chest didn't bother me. Dying sort of overrode my normal modesty. I could faintly remember Dr. Wells discarding my belt and cowl before practically ripping my jacket open as Cisco was returning with the crash cart. If it were a different situation, I might have died anyway from an entirely different burning.

Things were blurry but I could feel as Cisco lifted my body from Dr. Wells's lap and fell I back onto the medical bed. Blindly I reached for Dr. Wells's and felt his hand curling around mine.

"Berry!" Caitlin sounded almost hysterical as she burst into the room, and I absently wondered how many red lights the doctor had run to get here so fast. "Berry!"

My lungs burned, everything burned. I felt like I was sweating gallons. Damn that gas...the gas!

"C-cut-" I grabbed at Caitlin with my free hand as she leaned over me. "Cut me open! Poison-still inside-"

"She brought us a sample," Dr. Wells murmured and lifted his eyes to Caitlin. "Caitlin, we need to do a pulmonary biopsy to extract and active portion of that gas."

"I can't give you any anesthetic, your metabolism will burn right through it," Caitlin warned me.

"I heal quick, remember?" I said with a wheeze and tried to give her a reassuring grin.

"Do it." Dr. Wells said, his hand tight around my smaller one. I was grateful for that, for his strength.

"Cisco, give me the syringe." My vision was darkening so I couldn't really see what they were doing. But as Caitlin leaned in, I could see the worry on her face. "This is going to hurt a lot."

"Its a small needle, you probably won't even feel it," Cisco's voice was tiny as he tried to reassure me.

"You're definitely going to feel it," Caitlin disagreed.

I could see the needle glint in the darkness and I gripped Dr. Well's hand so tightly I deliriously hoped that I didn't break his fingers. And then it thrust down and I gave a gasping scream of pain, my head lifting up off the pillow.

 **8888**

I came too groggily. I honestly didn't remember passing out. Blinking blearily, I could hear the sounds of the various monitors I was hooked up to beeping in time with my fast-paced heart. I lifted my head, groaning faintly. God, my chest ached something fierce...

"The Streak lives," Cisco said cheerfully, reminding me of his presence and immediately I pulled the still open jacket closed over my chest, monitors be damned.

"You'd be dead if your lung cells didn't regenerate so quickly," Caitlin chided, safeguarding Cisco from my embarrassment.

"My chest feels like that one time I smoked a cigarette," I whispered pitifully, causing the older woman to arch a brow at me. I gave the doctor a weak smirk. "That's right. Teen me lived for danger." Teen me lived for _too much_ danger, actually.

"This isn't funny, you could've-" Caitlin bristled.

"I didn't," I reassured her while trying to sit up after pulling the monitors off my chest.

Dr. Wells spoke up from the computer he sat at. "Now that we have a sample we'll get to work analyzing it and figuring out the makeup of the poison, maybe get a clue to his human identity."

"Or at least figure out a way to stop him from turning into a mist," Cisco replied while helping me sit up, and suddenly his eyes lit up. "The Mist! Okay, that is his name, end of discussion."

"I have to get to the station," I said hoarsely, fumbling with the jacket.

"You should be resting," Dr. Wells chided, his tone disapproving as he pinned me with those blue eyes over his glasses.

I blushed and fought the urge to crawl back on the medical bed. "I know but...I need to talk to Joe. I can't let him and the others go into harms way. I can come back and rest after."

The corner of his lips turned down. "You will come back after. Is that clear?"

I nodded, and tried not think about how much my heart sped up at hearing the stern order.

 **8888**

Joe was in my lab as I entered. "Joe!"

He looked up from the file he was reading, his eyes meeting mine.

"I had him" I told him and he blinked. "The meta-human, we were wrong about him controlling airborne toxins. He can literally become a cloud of poison gas."

His eyebrows flew up in surprise. "That's new." He rose to his feet, walking towards me and showed me the file he held. "The victim was a judge. We're going through some of her old cases to see if there's a connection."

"It's too late." I retorted bitterly and clenched my fists in guilt. "I should have been faster."

"Focus on the job at hand. Don't think about that right now." he berated in a low voice.

"...you don't wanna know what I'm thinking about," I replied darkly, looking at the floor. "My dad has spent fourteen years in a six by eight cell for something he didn't do. I couldn't save my mom, but I _can_ save him." I paused and looked back at him and stated in a solemn, sure tone.

"I could get him in and out of there before anyone knew what happened."

Joe let out a weary sigh and sat down on the corner of my desk. "Then he would be on the run _for the rest of his life._ He's not as fast as you, Berry. I promised you, I will help you free him. I feel responsible, for not believing him...or you that night. So don't think I don't understand what you're feeling right now – I've been a cop for as long as you've been alive, Blueberry. And just like me putting on my badge and gun, you putting on that suit of yours won't automatically make everyone else safe."

Joe got back up and put reassuring hands on my shoulders. "And the hardest thing you're going to have to face is not some monster out there, its going to be the feeling of uselessness of not being able to do anything..." He paused for a moment, pulling me in for a hug. "Or the guilt when you make a mistake. Some things you can't fight – there are things you have to live with."

 **8888**

"Check this out!" Cisco waved us over to the monitor. There was a 3D model of a molecule on the monitor, and I stared at it, struck by its complexity and beauty. "Its a 3D molecular model of the gas we retrieved from your lungs."

"We have identified the toxin," Dr. Wells added.

I stared at the model. "Hydrogen cyanide?"

He hummed in agreement, taking a sip from his metal travel mug. "What's interesting is what's mixed in with the cyanide: A sedative."

"Of course," I breathed, and slapped a hand over my forehead. I turned to Caitlin, "The night of the explosion – we have to find out if anyone was executed!"

"Why?" Dr. Wells glanced over at me, arching a dark brow as Caitlin hurried over to a nearby computer.

"That sedative is given to criminals on death row right before they go into the gas chamber and breath in hydrogen cyanide," I explained.

"That's right," Dr. Wells hissed softly.

"There was someone executed," Caitlin confirmed from her monitor, putting the mug shot up on the main monitor, replacing the 3D model. "Kyle Nimbus."

"That's him!" I confirmed.

"He was a hit man for the Darbinyan crime family – they turned on him and testified," Caitlin said. "Judge Teresa Howard was the judge who presided over his trial; she was the one who sentenced him to death."

"He must have been affected by the explosion while he was being gassed," Dr. Wells speculated.

"Records indicate that the execution was completed," Cisco murmured.

"That's why there wasn't a match!" I exclaimed, looking over at Dr. Wells. "The DNA database only contains samples from the living!"

"Right," he replied.

A thought struck me suddenly and I looked back at the primary monitor. "He said there was one more name on his list – check the arrest record." I moved over the where Caitlin was at the computer. "Who caught him? That could be the next target..."

Caitlin jerked up and looked at me in horror. "Berry...the lead detective..." I felt my heart drop into my stomach in fear.

 **8888**

I was pacing frantically back and forth, just one movement away from doing so at my super speed. And then the line clicked as it was picked up. Finally! "Eddie!"

"Berry? What's up?"

"Do you know where Joe is? He's not picking up his cell."

"Uh..." I could hear the hesitation in his voice. "I'm not sure..."

"Eddie, this is important! I _need_ to know where he is!"

"I don't know Berry..."

" _Thawne!"_ I snapped, and vaguely registered the faint yelp over the line and Dr. Wells jerking his head in my direction. "I need to know where he _is,_ Eddie!" I hissed into the phone speaker.

"Shit, okay! Don't worry he should be fine, he went to Iron Heights to see your Dad, alright?! No need to last name me, I get enough of that from Iris." I heard the grown man whine.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, praying for patience. "Thank you, Eddie."

I hung up my phone and took another breath as Caitlin approached me.

"Berry, I was able to reverse-engineer an antidote," she said as I pulled on the Flash suit. "I hope you won't need it."

"You and me both." I sped out of the room, completely forgetting about the heavy blue gaze that followed me out.

 **8888**

There was panic racing through my veins, as fast as I was racing through the streets towards Iron Heights Prison.

"Berry," Cisco's voice was reassuring in my ear. "I pulled up the spec for Iron Heights – its maximum security but I should be able to walk you through getting in there."

"Don't bother. I've been figuring out how to break into that place since I was eleven," I replied.

Joe and one of the guards was on the concrete floor when I arrived. I knelt beside my foster father as he shuddered, convulsing on the ground. Retrieving the antidote, I stuck the syringe to the side of his neck and depressed the plunger; it emptied into his jugular and the convulsing stopped.

I could feel eyes on me and I looked up, over at where...my father stood on the other side of the lass that separated the inmates form their visitors. Dad was looking at me with wide eyes.

And then our eyes meet and so many thoughts ran through my mind. I could get him out right now. I shouldn't let him get a good look at my face. I could-

Joe gasped, dragging my attention back to him.

"Go get him," Joe wheezed.

I nodded and under the eyes of both of my fathers, sped from the room.

I was outside in seconds and saw the man walking down the road leading from the prison when I came to a halt in front of him. He was wheezing slightly as he regarded me.

"So...come to finish what the gas chamber couldn't?

"You..." I hissed, "are going somewhere were you can't hurt anyone else ever again!"

"Wrong," he was grinning as he dissipated into that lethal mist, which expanded to stretch across the road and grow upwards.

Oh shit.

So not good.

"You need to stay away from him, Berry!" Caitlin said over the comm in my ear. "Do not breath him in!"

I get that, really, but it was a hell of a lot easier said than done. I flashed away from him in spurts of speed while trying to think of a way to literally punch a wall of lethal gas that was following me around.

"That doesn't really help!" I yelped, zipping back again and around the pillar of gas that came at me.

The gas reformed into Nimbus and he was storming at me, his hands clenched.

Solid at last!

I sped forward, lunging forward-and he dissipated again, allowing me to pass right through him. "Fuck!" With a thud I hit the pavement and rolled back up into a low crouch.

"You can't fight him, Berry," Caitlin said in my ear. "Just keep him coming at you, that should sap his strength."

"Gas is the least stable form of matter," Dr. Wells informed me. "This meta-human will not be able to stay in his mist form for long. His particles will need to reform."

"Right," I breathed and watched as the green gas came at me again.

It probably looked strange to anyone watching, the green mist chasing the blurs of red swathed in gold lightning. I paused once, to glance over my shoulder.

Still coming.

Immediately I took off again, letting him chase me down the road. After a few more moments, I stopped again.

The mist was still coming. Slower this time until it finally rolled to a near stop, condensing in the form of Kyle Nimbus. He was breathing heavily, sweat rolling down his face.

Oh?

He dissipated again, charging at me once more. It wasn't as fast as before and his form wasn't as widespread. The mist lunged and I dove to the side with a curse, rolling down the embankment on the side of the road.

I was back on my feet, watching the green mist shrinking back down, assuming his human form again. He staggered, falling to a knee while wheezing loudly.

Nimbus swayed slightly and I charged forward, using the momentum I'd built to make my punch stronger than it would normally be and he flew back a decent amount, skidding back over the pavement. Carefully I approached his downed, wheezing form until I stood over him.

His eyes were unfocused and then they closed as he lost consciousness.

"Berenice," Dr. Wells' voice was in my ear and I felt my heart race and a hot blush rise. There was a sense of urgency in his voice when he repeated my name. "Berenice!"

"We win," I told him, panting slightly.

 **8888**

I had fallen asleep, curled up awkwardly in the visitor's chair of Joe's room. It was my turn to stay with him and exhaustion had taken over. When I opened my eyes I saw he was awake and watching me, a faint smile on his face.

"Its been a while since I've watched you sleep, Blueberry," he said.

I gave him a tired grin and a faint chuckle. "Rescuing you can be exhausting."

He made an amused sound. "I really miss the ability of being able to ground you."

I unfolded my long legs and rose up, making my way to his bedside, where I perched on the edge of his bed. "Sorry I went and grew up on you."

He reached a hand out and I took it.

"...I think...my Dad saw my face at Iron Heights."

"He might have. He's an observant and intelligent man," Joe agreed. "Thought you were going to be more careful?"

"I was scared. Seeing you on the ground like that...it reminded me of..."

….of Mom.

He nodded.

"Daddy!"

Joe groaned faintly in pain as Iris just about flung herself onto him.

"Hey, baby. I'm fine," Joe grunted, patting Iris's back. "Don't worry."

"I'll let you guys talk," I singsonged and gave Eddie a smirk before vacating the room at swift – but not super – speed.

At least someone's secret would be out tonight.

 **8888**

I was in Iron Heights again, this time sitting across from Dad. We picked up the phones at the same time.

"Joe's going to be okay," I told him and smiled at him faintly. "...you know've been thinking about Mom a lot lately."

"Because of Joe reopening the case?"

"Mmhmm." I nodded and sighed. "...I miss her."

"Did I ever tell you about the time you learned to walk, pumpkin?" He asked.

I laughed faintly. "A couple times, yeah."

"Everyone was walking before you were. All the little babies running around the neighborhood, but not you. But your Mom didn't worry, just said when you had some place to go, then you'd walk. And she was right. Because sure enough, the time you took your first steps, you didn't just walk, you ran...right into your Mom's arms. Because finally, you had some place to go."


	4. Going Rogue

The lightning hadn't just given me speed – it had given me friends. Okay so this was supposed to be training but still...I was playing Operation with Caitlin, ping pong with Cisco and chess with Dr. Wells.

All at once. It was _awesome_.

On my days off, if I wasn't somehow still at work, I was at home with my nose in a book until Iris took pity and dragged me off for girls' time...or I was staring at my picture of me and Dr. Wells (which I only felt slightly ashamed of setting as my phone wallpaper).

"This isn't even remotely anatomically correct," Caitlin huffed after making the game buzz at her as I was returning a serve at Cisco's ping pong table.

"That's not the point of it!"

"Then what is?!"

"Why, to have fun," I was back again, using the tiny tweezers to pull out another tiny piece from the game. Without making it buzz. I grinned cheekily at the older woman. "Dr. Snow~"

"And," Dr. Wells added from his chessboard. "to continue your ongoing training by testing the speed of your mind by pushing your ability to multitask."

I blurred over to his chessboard, moving a piece and grinning at him impishly as I hit the timer. "I'm waiting on you, Dr. Wells." I purred, giving him what I hoped to be a seductive smirk. I couldn't help but feel giddy when he answered back with a suggestively arched brow and quirked lips. Maybe he _does_ see me!

I blurred back to Cisco's ping pong table to intercept the ball again. I wove back and forth between the ping pong table and Caitlin's Operation game until I heard, "Checkmate."

"Wait, what?" I sped back over to the chessboard. "Checkmate?"

"Checkmate," Dr. Wells confirmed, lips twitching faintly as I pouted in dismay. "I guess we still have a few things left to learn, don't we, Ms. Allen?"

The ringing of a phone dragged our attention away from each other and I internally sulked.

"Armed robbery at 4th and Collins," Cisco called out.

I headed for my suit, and threw a grin over my shoulder at Dr. Wells. "For the record, I won in Operation and Ping Pong. Two out of three our first time isn't too bad, right?"

And with that, I was a blur, retrieving the suit and taking off for the site of the robbery.

When I arrived, I didn't even slow, speeding around first the tow-truck and then the motorcycles, disabling the three robbers I could see. As I sped forward, checked on the guards, I saw the fourth robber in the back.

In a burst of speed, I zipped through the armored car from the front, dragging him out the busted in back door. He hit the ground and rolled as I came to a halt a few feet away. The man pulled off his mask and stared.

Then it all went sideways.

One of the robbers fired at a fleeing guard, and I muttered a curse under my breath, zooming past the robber on the ground, who twisted, tracking me with his eyes.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" I asked Caitlin as I knelt beside the fallen guard.

"St. Andrews, seven blocks north, two east."

"Call the ER, tell them they have an incoming GSW," I relayed and jerked around at the sound of the motorcycle engines revving. The four robbers had doubled up on the bikes and were taking off. Damn!

The guard's life was more important, so I scooped him up and sped away to St. Andrews.

 **8888**

I sidestepped the barricades and waved to Captain Singh and Joe as they approached. "I did a check of the contents and nothing is missing," Joe said as we walked towards the armored car. "Looks like the robbery was interrupted."

"The other guard says there were three of them," Singh added.

"Ahhhh..." I eyed the scene, my mind replaying taking down the robbers. "Actually it was four. I mean, it'd make more sense. It's what'd I'd do anyway, if I ever decided to rob an armored car. A driver in the tow-truck, two guys to cover the guards, and someone to bust open the back-" I stopped and inspected the back of the armored car. "Wow. With liquid nitrogen. This will be fun to process..."

"Thank you Ms. Allen, for your brilliant insight," the Captain snorted and I shrugged at him and Joe.

"Four, huh?" Joe muttered as I began processing after the Captain had already walked away.

"Four. And..." I looked over my shoulder at him and grinned. "I saw one of their faces."

His eyebrows rose up and he looked very pleased. "That's really good. When we get back to the precinct, you're going to browse the mug book of Central City's most wanted."

 **8888**

He passed me one of the mug books. "Alright, lets see if he's in this one, if not-"

Joe paused as he watched me blur through the pages. "Damn..."

And then I stopped, dropping a finger down on a mugshot.

"Him," I announced in satisfaction. "I'd know those eyes anywhere."

Joe groaned. "Oh great... Leonard Snart..."

"Leonard?" I winced. "Who named him? That's as bad as Berenice..." Although I liked my name when Dr. Wells said it...

"Snart's father was a cop," Joe's lips were set in a thin line. "A bad cop who took his anger out on his kids up until he went to prison."

"His Dad's in prison too? Urgh. We should start a club," I muttered, brushing the fringe of my bangs back.

"He shows up like every six months to do a job. He'll case the job for weeks and plan everything down to the second before acting. Then, he does the job and gets away."

"Well that's going to change from now on," I grinned at him impishly. "After all, before there wasn't 'the Streak' - as Iris calls me - around! ….though I really need to get her to give me a better name. I'm thinking—"

"Coffee break!" Iris announced a she walked into the lab, carrying a takeout holder with a couple cups of coffee. "Thought I'd bring over some of Central City's finest coffee to come of Central City's finest."

"Coffee!" I was on the cup with my name with a delighted squeal. While the caffeine no longer really worked on me, it was still a tasty drink.

"Thanks but I'm off caffeine," Joe said stiffly, patting me on the shoulder and walking away.

I blinked at his back and turned to Iris in confusion. "...is he seriously...?"

"Still mad about me and Eddie? Yup," Iris sighed. "He's still doing his whole not talking and judgmental looks thing."

"Ah, I've been on the receiving end of those looks more than I'd like."

Iris let out a dramatic sigh before perking up again.

"I started a blog," she announced. "Those journalism classes finally are paying off."

"Is it about your obsession with brownies? 'Cause you probably shouldn't broadcast that." I teased.

"No, something actually important. Something the city needs to know about: The Streak. Did you know he – or she – stopped an armored car robbery this morning?"

"There has got to be a better name than the Streak. It makes me think of those frat boys that'd strip and run across the football field," I grumbled.

"Maybe I can do a poll, see what name is popular," Iris laughed. "Along with what gender everyone thinks the Streak is."

"Just be careful okay?"

"I am, don't worry."

"I always worry," I snorted. "Just like you and Joe do. Its a family thing."

"Say...you know that armored car robbery? You think maybe I could look at the file for my blog?"

"What? Ohhh no. No way. That's on ongoing investigation. Maybe later, when its over you can but not right now."

"Oh c'mon, Ms. Blabbermouth, you always tell me everything. Spill for my blog," Iris groaned.

"Nope. No way. And you better be serious about being careful, because the internet is full of weirdos trolling about."

"I can vouch for that," interjected a familiar voice – familiar to me anyway. "The internet is full of weirdos. And nerd rage. Lots and lots of nerd rage."

I brightened and turned to where Felicity Smoak stood in the doorway of the lab.

"Felicity!" I squealed and managed to not fly forward at super speed to hug my fellow nerd. "Why didn't you text me to tell me you were coming by?"

"It wouldn't be as much as a surprise if I did!"

"Felicity, this is my sister Iris West! Iris, this is Felicity Smoak, the friend I made in Starling City!" I made the introductions.

"Oh the computer genius who helped you in one of your unexplainable cases!"

Felicity laughed. "Which long story short, was definitely explainable."

"Yeah. It was a fun adventure though," I agreed.

Felicity backed up a couple steps and pointed to the skylight. "So the lightning came through here, right?"

"Yup. Right when I was trying to close the shutters on the skylight," I agreed and gestured to a rack of supplies. "Sent me flying all the way over there through that shelf. At least...that's where they tell me I ended up."

 **8888**

"I still can't believe you're here!" I gushed, happy to see the blonde.

"I wanted to check on you myself – just getting text updates really isn't cutting it. Everyone's was so worried...even though they don't act like it." Felicity said and grinned. "Although, I _was_ a little jealous that you didn't _race_ over to see me..." she trailed off expectantly.

My eyes widened. "Oliver told you?"

"I heard you two actually, on that rooftop." Felicity leaned in. "Can you show me? Your speed? I saw photos online but~"

"Okay, okay, I guess I owe it to you," I chuckled and pointed at the top of a nearby building. "Keep your eyes focused on that rooftop."

In a blur I was gone, racing up to that rooftop, where I raced around with an excited whoop, only pausing long enough to take a picture of Felicity before returning to her side...all in the span of a handful of seconds. I held the phone up to Felicity with a huge grin.

Felicity's jaw dropped as she snatched the phone from my hand. "You-you took a picture of me? From the top of that building?!"

"Yup," I chuckled as Felicity zoomed in on the picture. "Just don't instagram that, okay?"

And that was when Felicity squealed. "Your shoes are smoking!"

"Oh shit-" I hissed, tapping out the bottoms of my shoes frantically. "You have no idea how often I do that..." Man, I just got these Vans.

"You must go through so many shoes," Felicity cringed.

"Only until Cisco makes me some that are friction-proof like my suit," I laughed and saw that I had Felicity's attention. "Wanna see? Its the coolest thing ever!"

 **8888**

"And this is the Cortex, where my team monitors the police bands for any criminal activity. We can track anything that's happening in the city," I told her as we entered the Cortex. "Check this out~"

Cisco was on his feet in alarm as I led the blonde woman into the Cortex. "Oh wow. This is way different from that hospital room they had you in," Felicity said sounding impressed.

"We even have our own satellite," I practically sang with glee.

"I know, I've hacked into it from time to time," Felicity giggled as she took in the room.

"Rude!" I objected with a teasing grin, and absently took of my jacket and threw it across a random chair.

"It is of course nice to see you again, Felicity..." Caitlin looked over at me. "I'm curious to know just how much of our operation you feel she needs to know about..."

"I'm really good at keeping secrets," Felicity assured her.

"Yeah, she works with the Arrow," I vouched for her and then realized what I said. "...Ah..."

"Sweet!" Cisco said in glee.

"You are terrible at keeping secrets," Felicity groaned.

"I am, I know," I agreed.

Cisco rounded the console, grinning hugely. "Now its all making sense! You know who the Arrow is..." He eyed me. "Wait...you do know, right?"

"Uh," I floundered, and ran a hand through my hair. "...nooo?" Felicity giggled.

"My team has a similar set up to this one...just with...less pointy things."

"Welcome, Miss Smoak," came Dr. Wells voice from behind us, and we whirled in surprise. I watched Felicity's eyes go huge at the sight of the man in the wheelchair. "Dr. Wells? The Dr. Wells?"

"The one and only," I beamed.

"Please, call me Harrison, Felicity," he replied.

I felt my smile falter a bit. He never gave _me_ permission to use his given name...

"You know who I am?" she squeaked beside me.

"Of course," he said as he wheeled his chair forward, a smile on his lips as he listed her accomplishments. "You ranked second in the National Informative Technology Competition at age nineteen, graduated MIT with Masters Degrees in Cyber-Security and Computer Sciences. Oh yes. I know who you are. I keep an eye out for promising talent in scientific fields, which is what brought me Cisco and Caitlin. And I," he removed his glasses, smiling at Felicity, "foresaw great things from you."

"Wow," Felicity breathed, and I tried not to fall too deeply into my own personal pit of despair and jealousy. "Speaking of great things... Berry was going to show me something cool..."

 **8888**

I sighed, and tried to calm my nerves about tonight.

After Felicity and I met up with Iris at Jitters, she talked me into joining her and Eddie on a double date with one of his friends. At the time, I was still feeling unreasonably hurt and betrayed by Dr. Wells being so friendly with my blonde friend that I agreed with gusto. Now that I was home and in a more rational mindset, I wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

There was only one man I really wanted to kiss, hold, and be close to, and that was Harrison Wells. Not some random friend of Eddie's. So what if he asked Felicity to call him by his first name? Cisco, Caitlin, and I were much closer to him than she was, and we all call him Dr. Wells. He was the only one who called me Berenice...

No, I shook my head and tried to wipe him from my mind. Tonight, I'll focus on the man Iris and Eddie are setting me up with, and take a nice break from my confusing crush. It's just been a long time, been too many months since I've been with a guy. I'm just lonely; and well, horny. Of course I would assume he was flirting back with me, I'm surprised I haven't been imagining signals from more men, really.

Except that it doesn't really feel like it's just me imagining all of it. Especially not after those damn pictures.

God, the way he was smirking while he pressed his lips against my cheek, almost _intentionally_ close to my own lips, and how smug he looked at my reaction, like he _knew_ what he did to me. Then the eyebrow wiggling earlier during those tests! It's kinda hard _not_ to imagine Dr. Wells having sex, or having sex with Dr. Wells, like personally, like myself personally, after that.

And he's just so great, I helplessly thought, and couldn't help but notice that I failed to shake him from my thoughts. He's _so_ smart, and so _cool_ , and kind of warm even when he's acting like a cold, factual scientist, and honestly, at times, I forget that he's in a wheelchair from just how powerful and commanding he can be. He's very good at making you seem smaller than himself, even when you need to look down to meet his eyes.

Also, and this is important, he's funny. Or rather, he makes me smile. Simply put, Dr. Wells is pretty amazing, and that's attractive.

I might be lonely, but I'm not a maniac, so I've been trying _very_ hard not to imagine what sex would be like with the man. Seeing how every little thing he does towards me already lights my cheeks up in a blush, that would probably just fry my brain. But his little _Wouldn't you like to know_ smirks, and the tight shirts and his almost worldly eyes has me picturing what it would be like if he had just grabbed me from over the chessboard earlier and kissed me, in like a hands-on response to my flirting. He looks like a good kisser, age and all.

It's _very_ tempting to just woman up and show him just how much I like him, show him how fucking sexy he is, but I can't help but worry. Dr. Wells is already proving to be something good in my life, with all the help he's been giving me every since I was struck by lightning. I'm terrified to ruin that.

I have a final flash of his smirking face as he kisses me, open mouthed and kinda dirty, before I file it away under _'um, well'_ and tried to forget about him again. I needed to get ready for the Trivia thing.

I threw on one of my favorite dresses, a tight fitting black dress with an open back and a skirt ending just above my knees, and put on a minimal amount of make-up. I applied some eyeliner and mascara to bring further bring out the green of my eyes and then finished up with some lipstick. Done, I quickly looked around for my phone, and frowned when I couldn't find it. I did a quick run throughout my apartment but still didn't find it. Suddenly, I remembered that it was still sitting back at STAR Labs in my jacket pocket that was probably still draped across the chair.

I couldn't help but groan aloud to my empty apartment. I really didn't want to come face to face with my crush right now, especially after my little revelation. And dressed like _this._

That thought made me pause, and I looked at my reflection in the mirror in contemplation. Well, I guess I could test the waters a bit more, and try to act like an actual interested _woman_ instead of a blushing girl like I have been...

Before I could change my mind, I took off my heels and gripped them for courage as I sped off towards STAR Labs barefoot. Hoping that my dress and purse didn't start to burn from the friction, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as I slowed to a walk at the entrance of the Cortex.

My arrival attracted the attention of my three friends and I couldn't help but chuckle as their eyebrows rose up in unison.

"Well, damn. Where are you off to tonight?" Cisco whistled.

"I'm going to the Trivia Night at Jitters to hang with Felicity, Iris, Eddie and some friend of his."

"A friend of Eddie's?" Caitlin echoed and I tried not to look over at Dr. Wells to see his reaction. Feeling a little rebellious, I said in a light voice "Yeah, Iris has been trying to set me up on a blind date with one of his friends for a while now. Haven't really given it a thought until recently." I gave her a half-hearted shrug.

"But what if he's secretly a serial killer or something?" Cisco asked worriedly. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Then at the small chance of Eddie's friend being a psycho, I'll give him a good, swift ass kicking he won't forget. I wonder what would happen to his balls if I kicked them with enough speed?" I pretended to muse out loud.

I tried not to laugh as I heard two sharply drawn in breaths and Caitlin's poor attempt to choke down her own laughter.

"That's just _mean,"_ Cisco squeaked, and crossed his legs instinctively. I lost my battle with the giggles seeing that.

My eyes drifted over to Dr. Wells without my permission at saw him looking at me with that glint in his eyes that I haven't quite figured out yet. "Well, that's what I would do if he's a serial killer. If he tries to roofie me, I'll just play dead and get the jump on him." I gave Dr. Wells a half-smile and shrugged again. He tilted his head at me as if I was a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out, and the thought of him doing that as he was leaning was suddenly there-

Good god, was this a thing I do now?

I bit my lip and blinked the compromising thought away and tried not to panic when he raised his eyebrows questioningly. I gave him what was hopefully an innocent looking smile.

"Well, with how stunning you look, please try not to break too many hearts tonight, Berenice." he drawled in a low voice, his eyes sweeping up and down my form before clashing with my green eyes again. My throat went dry as my heart stuttered in my chest. I jerked my head in a nod and smiled in thanks, and tried to think of something to say back. Nothing came to mind that didn't sound corny and stupid.

It's at times like this that my crush is just damn inconvenient, trying to make me flush all unattractively in front of him!

"Well, I gotta go, I'm supposed to meet the others soon." I gave them all a wave and sped off towards my date, desperately trying not to make any bizarre faces.

 **8888**

Why was I so nervous when the guy apparently hasn't bothered to show?

"-everyone welcome E=MC Hammer!"

I snapped back to the present as me and my teammates were announced and shared a rare grin with a group of fellow 'nerds' even managing a high five with one. Maybe tonight would work out, even if Eddie's friend didn't show.

I didn't need a man. Really!

I had my sister, my friend, and the love of my sister's life who was steadily becoming a good friend. And on top of that, I had super speed, healing, all that good stuff!

I grinned over at Eddie and Iris and picked up my coffee.

"This is the best name! 'Cause you see because E=MC squared is Einstein's formula for kinetic energy and you know-" I did a little dance on my stool, "'Can't touch this!'"

Eddie and Iris shared a look of fond exasperation as Eddie chuckled, "That's great, Berry."

"So where's Felicity?" Iris asked.

"She said she'd be running a little late, her cab was caught up in traffic," I pouted before brightening. "Hey at least I'm not the one that's late this time!"

"Only barely," Felicity said cheekily as she slid onto one of the stools.

I didn't feel so overdressed anymore now that she was here. Felicity looked so pretty with her hair down and her smart black dress.

"I love your dress," I complimented before taking a sip of my cup.

"I was a little worried I might be over dressed..."

"No way!" Iris reassured her.

"And where have you been hiding that sexy little dress? That's not your usual t-shirt and flannel..." Felicity commented as she eyed my dress. I rolled my eyes in false exasperation. "I can dress nice, I'll have you know!"

Felicity was going to retort when she spied the name of their group. "E=MC Hammer? I love it!"

"See, I told you it was a great name!" I insisted.

Eddie laughed. "Oh God, you were right, they do act alike!"

"I told you so." Iris elbowed Eddie. "So where's this mystery man that's supposed to join us?"

"Ehh... Kent might not make it. He was having some issues when I left the station earlier."

"Issues? Is everything alright?" Felicity asked, looking worried.

"Oh its not that! He's just got pretty rotten luck with the ladies, so I think he's taking longer to get ready because he's nervous." Eddie assured.

"Gee, thanks Eddie," a voice interjected.

I turned at the new arrival and couldn't help but be slightly disappointed when a relatively young looking guy grabbed a vacant stool and sat down at our team's table. He had short dirty-blonde hair, a cleanly shaved face, and was dressed in a simple polo shirt and jeans. He was cute, but not really my type...

I was torn from my perusal when he suddenly looked at me with wide, hazel eyes. "B-Berry Allen?" he asked in a twitchy voice.

I blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Yup."

I was startled when he let out gasp, and I couldn't help but wish that I had my t-shirt and jeans with me. Despite the fact that I was not immediately recognizable, the fact that when I _was_ recognized, it gained me such looks of disbelief was getting old. I saw the man lean forward slightly and grabbed the edge of the table. "You mean," he whispered, and I began to feel something that felt like paranoia creep across my skin, because he almost sounded _reverent,_ "that you're _her?_ 'The' Berry Allen?" he paused, and he seemed to be waiting for something. Dumbly, I nodded.

I almost dropped my drink when his hands suddenly jerked from the table, stopping in the air between us. "C-can I shake your hand?"

I carefully looked for the exits, because there could be no other possible explanation than the fact that this man was clearly completely insane. "Uh," I grunted, stalling for time as I shot a look at my equally baffled companions. "Sure, I guess."

He gave me a brilliant smile, and I felt my jaw drop as I remembered just where I'd seen that exact starry eyed look before. Girls from my classes at my high school.

All of them fangirls.

I, Berry Allen, had a fanboy.

I was so completely frozen that I didn't feel his hand take mine, though my eyes couldn't help but be glued to our hands where we touched. His hazel eyes looked back up into mine in wonder. "I didn't think I'd ever be able to meet you. I've heard plenty about you from my superiors, about all the great work you do in the crime lab." he murmured, and leaned away, much to my great, indescribable relief, "I look up to you, so much."

He glanced over to an embarrassed looking Eddie, and I took that instant to take a fortifying gulp of sweet, scalding courage..."Ah, thank you for arranging this, Eddie. The way you always talked about Lady Allen, you made it sound as if she were an grizzled old lady-"

I barely managed to keep from spewing my coffee across the table, and spent the next couple of seconds trying not to choke to death.

By the time my body began warming up to the stunning idea that breathing was actually something that needed to be done on a regular basis, Felicity, Iris, Eddie and Kent were staring at me with worry in their eyes. "Lady Allen, are you alright?"

I couldn't do anything but twitch. I felt the corner of my eye tic.

"Oh, I'll go get you another drink ma'am!" He quickly took the cup from my unstable hands and practically skipped up to the counter. I turned my head after him as he moved around me, making sure my back was never turned on the _obviously_ unstable man.

Once he was gone, I violently turned back to a chagrined Eddie, who blushed at receiving looks from all three women at the table. "What the fuck was _that?!"_ I hissed at him, and Iris seconded that with a slap on his arm. Suddenly Felicity burst into giggles beside me.

I whipped back over to her with a glare. "What the _hell_ are you laughing at?!"

"Lady Allen!" she practically crowed, giggling like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.

"It isn't funny!" I turned back to Eddie. "Why the _hell_ are you setting me up with crazy people?"

Eddie's eyes went wide. "What?"

"That dude, is _insane_." I leaned forward over the table and gave the man a glare. "He practically _squealed_ when he talked to me. Hell, he called me 'Lady Allen' and 'Ma'am'!" I carefully ignored Felicity's snort of laughter. "Something is _wrong_ with that man."

"Berry," Eddie laughed, "He's just a big fan of yours!"

"Exactly! He's insane! You need to seriously review your friendship making process, because there is something wrong with this picture." My eyes widened as Eddie burst into giggles along with Felicity, leaving only Iris who was acting sympathetic towards me, _as she should._

"Oh, he's coming back..." I whispered at the giggling blondes and felt my muscles tense up in wariness. Who looks up to a mediocre crime lab geek? Was he for real?

 **8888**

I had my coffee cup glued to my lips and guzzled the drink. While I was working on the solution for the latest Trivia question, I tried to resist the urge to bash Eddie and Felicity's heads together. They had thankfully stopped giggling like children, but they would still shoot me and Kent smirks and silly grins, while _I_ did all the work for our team. Iris was being a wonderful, supportive sister, while Kent was _still_ blathering non stop next to me.

The round ended with a ding and the announcer crowed, "And the points go to E=MC Hammer!"

"Score!" I said, giving Felicity a harder-than-necessary-high five as the crowd cheered.

"With you two on the team we have this in the bag," Iris laughed.

Eddie looked at Felicity in curiosity. "So, Felicity, what do you do?"

"I work in computer sciences at Queen Consolidated," she replied.

"Really? So you're basically a White Hat?" Kent asked in fascination, and I decided to forgive Felicity for all of her horrid teasing, since she took the man's attention away from myself.

"Yup!"

"White Hat?" Iris asked in confusion.

"A hacker on the side of the good guys," he explained. "Black Hats are well...the bad guys who do stuff like make viruses and hack your bank account. White Hats work to protect you from them."

"That is so cool!" Iris squealed.

"It is," Felicity agreed.

"So, do you have a boyfriend back in Starling?" Iris asked.

"Are you trying to go for a triple date?" I joked, thinking that it wasn't something I could see Oliver doing...

"It could be fun!" Iris laughed.

"I was on one once, in college. It wasn't. Trust me," Kent snorted into his drink.

"Ahhh..." there was a hesitation in Felicity's voice that caused me to look at her in concern. "No. Not really."

"Something happen with-?"

"I'll tell you later," she replied, shaking her head.

"Okay," I muttered.

"So, do we want another round of drinks?" Eddie said, trying to steer the topic away from any unpleasantness. Bless his heart. Maybe I'll forgive him too. Maybe.

Another question was dished out for the game and before anyone could stop him, Eddie buzzed in our answer with out consulting us. I groaned when he got it wrong. "C'mon dude, I'm on your side, don't make me look bad!"

"I'm sorry!" Eddie squawked. "I thought I knew it and got excited and..."

"Well," I sighed, "Maybe the other team will get it wrong too?"

"Yeah, I'm fairly certain a team called Pride and Padawans knows the name of Han Solo's ship," Felicity said dryly.

"Its alright though," Iris crooned, taking Eddie's face in her hand sand directing his face towards her, "'cause you are all sorts of cute when you're confused."

I snorted faintly as they kissed.

And then, Eddie's phone began to beep. Eddie checked it and looked up at us. "Someone spotted Snart."

"It's okay, we understand." I said.

"Yeah, we're used to it with Dad." Iris added.

"Be careful," Felicity called as he left and she caught my eye.

"If he's called that means I'll probably get a call soon too. Can't have a crime without a crime-scene; my luck, I'm probably going to be stuck going over surveillance footage and dusting for prints," I sighed, rising to my feet as well. "At least I have plenty of head's up this time – I can go change into something I don't mind getting ruined on the job..."

"It was nice to meet you, Kent..." I shot the man a forced smile and tried not to cringe at seeing an honest to God _pout_ on his face _._

"Be safe," Felicity whispered as I pulled on my jacket. I nodded and was off.

 **8888**

I entered the museum to see Leonard Snart firing some sort of white, glowing beam from a strange looking gun straight at Joe. Time was at a crawl as I moved forward, shoving Joe out of the way and getting grazed by that beam.

It was cold and burning in the same second, knocking me to the ground behind a pillar.

Seeing he couldn't get a clear shot at either the Streak or the cop, Snart watched, waiting.

I pushed myself up behind that pillar, leaning against it to check on Joe. My knees were weak from the pain shooting up and down from the glowing white wound on my side.

"Oh my God," Joe was staring at it in shock.

"It burns," I wheezed.

I could hear the faint whine of that strange weapon charging and I darted away from my pillar as he opened fire on it.

"Time for a test run," Snart announced with a smirk curling his lips; he was tracking the floor above them with the sights of that gun, "let's just see how fast you really are."

As he was saying the last word, he found a target and fired.

In a blur of red and crackle of gold, I had swooped in and deprived him of his target.

Not like that stopped Snart, who targeted a security guard and tour-guide fleeing up a flight of stairs.

As the white beam raced for them, I was a hairsbreadth faster, dragging them to safety.

Another fleeing couple found themselves yanked away at high speeds by the blur and tossed into a hallway.

"Go," I wheezed to them, a hand pressed to that burning white side.

How could it be so cold it burns?! I leaned against a wall, gasping for breath. There were spots in my vision from the pain.

There was a security guard in plain clothes trying to approach behind Snart while drawing his weapon. As though sensing him, Snart glanced over his shoulder; that smirk on his face grew as he turned to face the guard, leveling his strange cold-burn gun at the man.

No! Nononono-

He was firing and I was speeding forward towards the guard; my vision was spotty, the pain in my side excruciating, but I still made myself run. I had to help him, had to-

The beam was faster, striking the guard in the chest and sending him flying back as I screamed, "NO!"

I was on my knees beside the frozen body, trembling and saying 'no' over and over again as my gloved hands trembled, checking futilely for a pulse, for any sign of life. Faintly I could feel Snart's eyes on my back and in that moment, I didn't care if he fired again.

I had failed and because of that, another innocent person had died.

 **8888**

I had retreated to STAR Labs and was sitting on the med-bay cot, letting Caitlin inspect the blackened burn that was still on my side. Dr. Wells was holding onto one of my hands, staring at the injury with a concerned expression. I was glad when he took my hand in his without any prompting, since it was so comforting last time I was on this stupid bed.

"How does it feel?" Caitlin asked.

"...numb," I replied faintly. I could sense more than see Felicity and Cisco watching me in the background.

"Its presenting like third-degree frostbite," Caitlin frowned.

"I thought she had hyper-healing or something?" Felicity asked.

"Its been slowed," the doctor grimaced and looked down at my injury. "If your cells weren't regenerating at the rate they are, your blood vessels would have frozen solid and the nerve damage would have been permanent. You are very lucky to be alive."

Very carefully, I pushed myself up and off the bed, hissing faintly in pain. Dr. Wells slowly disengaged our hands. "Snart...wasn't another meta-human. Everything he was doing was with that...that gun of his. It froze things, slowed me down enough that I wasn't in time to save someone."

"According to his record, Snart didn't even finish high-school. So how was he able to build a hand-held hi-tech snow machine?" Felicity asked, glancing over at Dr. Wells for an answer.

He didn't look at her, his eyes focused on me. "STAR Labs built the Cold Gun."

I blinked in shock, the jacket I had just grabbed clenching in my hands. He...

"Dr. Wells and Caitlin had nothing to do with it," Cisco interjected. "I built the gun."

My eyes tore from Dr. Wells's to meet Cisco's and felt the sharp sting of betrayal. "...you...?"

"Because speed and cold are opposites. Temperature is measured by how quickly the atoms of something is oscillating; the faster it is, the hotter it is and when cold they are slower on the atomic level. When there is no movement at all, its called-"

"-absolute zero," I interrupted. I knew this already.

"Yeah. I designed a compact cryo-engine to achieve absolute zero." He took a breath. "I built it to stop you. I didn't know who you were then, Berry. I mean...what if you turned out to be some psycho like Mardon or Nimbus."

"But I didn't. Did I?" I snapped. I wanted to run, despite the agony every movement sent up from my side. To cry, because the physical pain was less than the emotional pain I was feeling right now.

Oh God...of course, things were going too good...

"We built the entire structure you are standing in to do good," Caitlin interjected. "And it blew up. In the wake of that, you can understand why Cisco wanted to be prepared for the worst."

"I can," I replied in a tight voice. "But what I can't understand? Is why you didn't tell me. After all we've been through? I thought...you trusted me, like I trusted you. I thought...I thought we were friends."

"We are, Berry," Cisco said, taking a step forward.

"You didn't tell me about this weapon – you could have told me, prepared me for eventually facing it." I said hollowly. "And now a man is dead."

Cisco took a shuddering breath, "And I have to live with that."

"No, Cisco," I shook my head. "We all do."

I turned, walking out of the Cortex.

 **8888**

After going home for a much needed hot shower, I had returned to STAR Labs and sat curled in one of the chairs staring at the monitor, almost hoping the police scanner would go off...

Cisco entered the Cortex, peering intently at his tablet. "I think I've figured out how to track Captain Cold!"

Caitlin groaned from where she sat beside Dr. Wells at the row of computers, "You have got to stop naming these guys."

I didn't move, my eyes unseeing on the monitor.

"Berenice," Dr. Well's voice cut through my thoughts and I shifted faintly in the chair. "Listen to him."

"I am," I replied softly before turning enough in my chair to cause it to spin a bit and face Cisco. "What do you have?"

"The cold gun is powered by an engine control unit, a micro-computer that regulates air to fuel ratios, so that the sub-cool fluid in the chambers don't overflow and-"

"-explode," Felicity finished.

"Exactly!" Cisco whirled to point at Felicity; he moved forward, walking around the console as Dr. Wells sipped out of his silver travel mug. "This ECU was receiving updates wirelessly from my tablet. If I can boost the signal using Central City's network and send a false update, we'll get a ping back and-"

"-we can locate Snart," Dr. Wells said, looking from Cisco to where I sat.

I blinked. "How long will it take?"

"Well, first I have to hack into the city's network, so I don't know...thirty minutes maybe?"

"I can do it in less than one," Felicity singsonged and I felt my lips curl in amusement despite my mood as the hacker sat at her computer, sending me a wink. "Because when it comes to hacking, I'm the fastest woman alive."

Felicity cracked her hands like a pianist and hissed when they cracked audibly, before shaking her hands in pain. "That was not as badass as I pictured..." She was typing, her fingers a blur over her laptop's keyboard before announcing in glee: "I'm in!"

"Are you kidding?" Caitlin asked in shock.

"Alright!" Cisco cheered from his workstation. "I'm sending the updates." there was a beat and then: "We're connected!"

"The network is triangulating now," Felicity reported.

Caitlin nodded as he computer beeped. "We got him! Hes going west on Nelson to the train station."

Dr. Wells peered at Caitlin's monitor. "If he's leaving then it appears Mr. Snart has got what he came for."

There was a blur, the chair I was in suddenly spinning so fast it topped over. They looked up to see me standing in my suit.

Cisco grinned hugely and tapped his temple. "When we put our minds to something...nothing can stop us."

I reached up, switching off the earpiece and Cisco swallowed. "Umm...how are we going to talk to each other?"

"...I don't really feel much like talking right now," I said softly before disappearing in a streak of gold lightning.

 **8888**

The silence was welcome, and so was the running. I zipped by where Joe and Eddie stood, relief momentarily overwhelming my numbness. They were safe.

Good.

I entered the train through one of the side doors an explosion of glass, coming to a halt in a kneeling crouch feet away Snart. He aimed the gun at my head.

Our eyes met.

"There is no where to run," I said softly.

"I knew it," he breathed. "I didn't get a good look before, little girl. Your mother know you're out past bedtime running around in red leather?"

I rose slowly, my eyes locked with his through his goggles. "If you wanted to get away, you should have taken something faster than a train, Mr. Snart."

"That's if I wanted to get away."

My head tilted in confusion and he continued.

"I've seen your weakness. At the armored car. And then at the theater."

I kept my face smooth but my hands curled into nervous fists. His smirk grew wider as I scanned the train, checking on each of the passengers who were staring back at the two of us with wide, concerned eyes,

"See, while you're busy saving everybody..." abruptly he lowered the gun; it whined, charging, "I'll be saving myself."

He fired into the floor between them, the ice from the brilliant white beam freezing through the thin metal floor and the gears below. The wheels screamed as hot, oiled metal suddenly reached absolute zero. The train was coming to a violent halt, causing the passengers to scream as they braced themselves; Snart was at one of the side doors, forcing it open.

He glanced between the passengers and then at me with a nasty grin. "Good luck with that!"

And then he was out the door.

The train car was ripped from the engine before it and it began to tumble over, flipping upside down. The cars attached to it were buckling, twisting as well as the train violently derailed.

For me, everything was still – there were people and their belongings mid-air. Golden lightning flickered across my eyes and the speed arced through my veins as I moved forward.

For those outside, there was golden lightning sparking inside the first car of the derailing train as passengers were being removed, practically tossed onto the sides of the tracks out of harms way. The lightning flowed through the remaining cars, snatching passengers mid-air as they were being thrown about.

And then the train derailed completely, still moving forward on its own momentum in a screaming pile of metal as I landed on the grassy embankment far from the passengers. The wind was knocked out of me as I tumbled down until coming to a halt. I groaned as I began to push myself up, feeling lightheaded from the expenditure of energy. How many calories did I just burn up doing that...?

And then there was that infernal whine as I was almost to my feet. And then there was socolditburns striking me in the back, sending me back to the ground with a scream of pain.

I rolled over as Cold approached until he was standing over me. "That was pretty damn fast, little girl." He looked down at me. "But not really fast enough."

There was a wheeze of pain as I stared up at him and he tilted his head as he regarded me. "Thank you."

"For...what?!" I snarled.

"You forced me to up my game. Not only with this gun but also with how I think about the job. It's been educational."

And then there was a whine, similar to Snart's gun behind him.

"Drop it." Cisco hissed.

Snart turned in surprise to regard Cisco, who was wielding...a contraption I had never seen before, its body being held by Caitlin and Felicty. Panic surged through me; what were these three idiots doing?! Immediately I tried to sit up despite the agony it caused. I had to protect them-

"This is a prototype of the Cold Gun," Cisco announced. "Its four times the size, but also four times the power."

Snart glanced back to where I was trying to push myself back to my feet. "...I was wondering who you were talking to."

"You stay away from them-" I hissed, wobbling weakly.

"Hey." Cisco's voice was firm, his face in a fierce snarl. "Unless you want a taste of your own medicine, I'd back the hell up."

"Your hands are shaking. You've never killed anyone." Snart drawled.

"There's a first time for everything, Captain Cold."

Snart tilted his head back, an amused grin stretching across his face.

"I will shoot you." Cisco warned again, even as Snart's eyes locked with mine.

"You win, kid." He lifted the Cold Gun and grinned. "I'll see you around, little girl."

Cisco tracked him with his weapon as Snart walked away. "Hey Leave the diamond."

"Don't push your luck," Snart said, not even looking over his shoulder.

When he was out of sight, Felicity and Caitlin practically dropped the body of the prototype. Cisco grinned weakly over at me. "I couldn't shoot him even if I wanted to. This is actually the STAR Labs vacuum cleaner."

I groaned at him, allowing myself to fall weakly back to the ground.

"With a lot of LEDs!"

Felicity was by my side, wincing at the fresh damage done to my lithe body. "Oh God...we need to get you warm..."

Cisco crouched down by me, eyeing the damage in concern. I weakly reached out, snagging his sleeve.

"Thank you. That...was one hell of a bluff."

 **8888**

Back at STAR Labs, Cisco was frowning at his monitor. "We've been trying to track Snart but...he must have disabled the signal some how..."

"We'll find him, Cisco," I murmured. "Together."

"You have a great team here, Berry," Felicity said as Cisco walked away. "Speaking of teams, I should probably get back to mine."

"Can't leave them unattended for long, who knows what kind of trouble they'll get into without proper supervision," I agreed.

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Smoak," Dr. Wells said. "Please extend a 'Hello' to the Arrow for us."

"I will."

"Be safe on your trip home. I'll text you more often, I swear."

"You do that. I want to hear more about you and Mr. Kent." Felicity chortled as they hugged goodbye, and I couldn't help but flinch at the mention of the fanboy.

I was sad to see her go, but...I was happy to know how well my friend had gotten along with everyone.

"A remarkable young woman," Dr. Wells murmured. "She's special."

I smiled. "Yeah. I'm lucky to have a friend like her."

 **8888**

It was funny how Felicity jumped and yelped when I suddenly seemed to appear across from her on the train. The hacker was hugging her tablet to her chest, giving me a wide-eyed look as I laughed.

"...I yelped, didn't I?"

"Yes," I giggled. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't tell me you're here to save me?" Felicity asked, semi-paranoid as she looked around for Snart.

"Despite the recent events, taking the train is still one of the safest ways to travel," I reassured her.

"I thought that was airplanes?" she retorted with a grin. I shrugged and grinned.

"...do you remember telling me about a little experience...liking someone who didn't even know you existed?" she asked hesitantly.

I raised my eyebrows and nodded slowly.

"...That was Harrison Wells, wasn't it?"

My eyes widened before dropping down to avoid her gaze. "...How did you know...?"

"It's the little things," she said and put a hand over mine. "The way your eyes linger on him when he isn't looking, the smile you fake when his attention is turned towards someone else..."

I shifted my green orbs out the window in guilt and shame. Seems Felicity caught my moment of jealousy earlier... "The quiet dreams you keep to yourself." she finished softly. My eyes darted up to her in panic. "I saw you staring at your phone a lot today. I couldn't help but take a peek over your shoulder at Jitters." Oh. She saw my home screen wallpaper.

"So, like you and Oliver?" I deflected, not quite ready to have this brought out into the open yet, not when there's so many new _possibilities_ and an actual chance that this was requited.

Felicity leaned back into her seat with a small, sad smile. "Takes one to know one." I gave her a small self-depraving chuckle.

When I saw her just looking at me patiently, I knew she wasn't going to let it go that easy. Damn. "I'm scared that it will change everything." I admit in a small voice.

"It will," she agreed. "but maybe that's not such a bad thing."

I made a distressed sound deep in my throat. "But, before I even _knew_ him, it was so much more simple, he would never...and now I _know_ him, and he's just so..." Great, he's so _great._ "I'm so freaked out that what I feel is getting way too intense than what I'm prepared for. A crush is one thing, but..." I don't know how to stop looking at him and thinking about _scenarios_ and I'm sure, inconveniently sure, that it's not a crush anymore, not at all.

I'm fucked, aren't I? _Fucked._

"No, you are not fucked."

Oh, had I said that last bit out loud?

"I think," Felicity paused long enough for me to helplessly meet her eyes. "that you should take a leap of faith and talk to him about this. I think you might be surprised..." she implored with an impish smile, eyes sparkling with an I-know-something-you-don't look. I blink at her in confusion before sighing, and gave her a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Felicity. I might just do that..." I trailed off tiredly, and gave the blonde one last hug goodbye.


	5. Bonnie and Clyde

**Be prepared, this chapter is completely non-canon, and takes place before episode 5 of the show. No Plastique yet.**

 **8888**

I was having a nice, warm, soothing bath when my phone rang.

I had some calming Lana Del Rey playing in the background from my stereo, enjoying my relaxing day off, and not really planning on doing much the whole day, until I got interrupted by Cisco, calling to say that there was a robbery happening a couple blocks away from my apartment, because that was my life now.

I let out a groan and reluctantly stood up and out of the tub. I stretched out my limbs in a languid stretch, before suddenly blurring through my home, drying off and dressing into some jean capris and a simple white blouse before speeding off towards STAR Labs to get my suit. Once I was in and out of the building and now clad in my red leather, I was at the crime scene in a few minutes. Of course it's a bank.

And wow, this guy didn't really come prepared. I quickly surveyed the scene from behind him in 4.3 seconds, and didn't see anyone else with him. Who comes into a bank heist without a crew?

The man finally seemed to realize that I was a couple feet behind him, and quickly whirled around, eyes wide. He looked to be a middle-aged oriental man, balding and unshaven, looking like he's had better days.

I stopped my assessment when he suddenly pointed his handgun at me and fired. My eyes widened and I easily dodged the bullet, watching it go by me in slow motion and crash into the pillar behind me. I looked back at him, unimpressed. "Look, why don't you set the gun down before someone gets hurt, yeah?" I say, trying to talk him out of continuing. He sets his face into a snarl, and I can guess what his answer is. I watch him slowly (for me) start to raise his gun again, and decide to go ahead and put an end to this. I dash forward and rip the gun from his hands, drawing a gasp from the man. I hit him across the face with a blurred punch and watch him drop to the ground like a stone. I couldn't help but smile in relief that it was so easy. I brought up a hand to my ear to turn on my comm, "Dude's down, guys. Go ahead and call in the-"

Suddenly a loud gunshot rang through the air and I cut myself off with scream as burning white pain erupted from my shoulder. I quickly dropped my hand from my head, and grabbed my shoulder, looking behind me for the culprit.

"Berry!" Cisco's voice shouted into my ear, piercing through the ringing that I didn't even know was there since I was shot. I locked eyes with an older oriental woman aiming a gun at me, who had apparently been hiding in the crowd of hostage bankers. She pulled the trigger again.

I grit my teeth, ignoring the worried chatter in my ear, Cisco and Caitlin getting more high pitched the longer they went unanswered, and I rushed the woman. I dodged the next two bullets and forced myself to tear my hand away from my wound and brought it across her face with a loud smack. She went down, but not before yanking on my injured arm, making me lose my balance. I cried out in pain as I fell to one knee, painfully jarring that and my shoulder, and felt my vision go temporarily blurry. I shook my head and focused on the enemy on the ground, but failed to stop her before she plunged a syringe into my leg. I watched in horrid fascination as the liquid was injected and started to feel nauseous immediately.

"Berenice, Berenice!" I tried to focus on Dr. Wells voice in my ear and started to feel lightheaded. Huh, and kinda carefree. I fell back onto my butt and watched the woman rush over to the downed man with uncaring eyes. Aww, were they married? That was kinda sweet, like Bonnie and Clyde!

I let out a low giggle and happily took note of how numb my shoulder felt now. It didn't hurt anymore! I was almost tempted to call out a thank you to the fleeing couple, but deemed talking to Dr. Wells as _way_ more important. "Berenice, you answer me right this second or I'm go-" Ooooh, I _like_ his voice going all deep and dark like that...

"I'm fine~" I sang back, unintentionally cutting him off. I got up onto wobbly legs and snickered, imagining myself running at over 400 mph on jello legs. I'd probably look like a flailing crash dummy!

"Berenice?" Dr. Wells asked in a weird voice. "Are you alright? We heard you scream-"

"Well, I guess I'm just a screamer!" I chirped as I ran out in of the bank with one of my arms trailing behind my like a puppet's arm was cut from its strings, and immediately slapped a hand over my mouth to -unsuccessfully- smother my giggles. I just said that I'm a screamer over the radio!

The line was comically silent as I tried to control my giggles, since it was already hard enough trying to run with jello legs and a wet sticky left side and wow, I'm kinda hot-

I yanked off my cowl and let out a relieved huff at feeling the cool wind hit my face and blow back my short hair. I glanced down at my sticky shoulder and smacked a hand against my forehead at seeing the bullet hole in the leather. Of course! I quickly turned on the comm to inform my friends that I had figured it out. "Guys, _its okay,_ I figured out why I'm so wet and sticky!" I think I might of yelled that.

I did yell that. "...why are you wet and sticky, Berry?" Caitlin asked, sounding scared to know the answer. Silly Cait! I told her as much.

"Because of all the liquid, Silly Cait!" I giggled. "It's making my suit stick to me kind of uncomfortably though, so I don't think I like it." I heard someone let out a pitiful whimper over the line. Ah, probably Cisco!

"It's okay, Cisco!" I quickly reassured and then grinned when I saw STARS in my sight. "The liquid's just as red as my suit so it blends in pretty well! You're so smart to think about future bloodstains when you made this!" I gushed, so so happy to be surrounded by brilliant people who thought of these things.

"Wait, what?" I heard voices exclaim into my ear, making my silly smile fall just a tiny bit. "Berry, are you hurt? Is that why you screamed?" Caitlin asked in a worried voice. I shook my head at her worry.

"Nah~. I'm good, in fact I feel great!" I was almost to STARS and suddenly let out a "Whoopsies!" when I crashed into a parked moped, failing to do a high jump over it. I rolled ass over kettle in the street, giggling and leaving wet, red splatters in my wake. "Berenice! What happened?!" Wow, even Dr. Wells was sounding kind of scared now. Guess the comm was still on.

"Took a tumble!" I replied with a snort and crawled back to my feet, starting towards the labs again. I heard a short sigh in my ear before he said in a stern voice, "Berenice, come here right now."

I laughed back at him. Little did he know-

"I'm already here!" I sang and bounced into the Cortex like I had springs on my feet. Dr. Wells, Caitlin and Cisco looked up at me with relief, until running (and rolling) over to me in alarm and concern.

" _Berry!_ You look horrible! What the hell happened?!" Caitlin gasped as she went around me to look at my shoulder. "You've been _shot!"_ she cried. Well, yeah.

"You look really pale, how much blood have you lost?" Cisco asked, taking my hand and trying to gently tug me towards the med-bay cot. Ah, my old friend, the injured people's bed. I was then distracted by Dr. Wells grabbing my other hand, a successful move to get my attention. I beamed down at him in approval. He looked back up at me with narrowed eyes, running his blue orbs across my face. I raised my eyebrows in question.

"Berenice, are you al-" he cut himself off and looked as if he was trying to think of the right way to ask his question. "...did anything hap-" he cleared his throat when he saw my eyebrows go even higher up on my head. "Tell me what happened out there." He asked.

I blinked and thought back to Bonnie and Clyde at the bank. "Well, I got to the bank and saw Clyde standing all by his lonesome, which isn't smart-" My hip got caught on the side of the table and I shot forward in a spin as I lost my balance. I laughed a little hysterically when Cisco and Dr. Wells frantically tried to keep me from sprawling onto the floor. They succeeded, and Caitlin wrapped her arms around my middle from behind me and helped haul me upright.

"Thanks guys!" I giggled and immediately went to grab the boys' hands again. "Where was I? Oh, so Clyde shot at me, he missed, I got a good hit across his face, and he went down. Then I was trying to talk to you guys when Bonnie shot me from behind, kinda rude, now that I think about it..." I trailed off for a moment as my friends helped me sit up on the cot. "Then, she tried to shoot me in the face and I punched her too. She kinda made me lose my balance on her way down though." I smiled at the three of them. "But it's okay! I forgive her! I mean, she took my pain away, and made me feel all _wooo!_ " I exclaimed and waved our connected hands in the air like a bastardized form of the wave. I watched Caitlin and Dr. Wells give each other concerned looks.

"How did she take your pain away, Berenice?" Blue eyes zeroed in on my green, and I couldn't help but admire the beautiful sea of color that was framed by black lashes and partially dimmed by his glasses lenses. Fingers snapped in front of my eyes. "Berenice?" Dr. Wells asked. Oh, something about pain. "Who?" I tilted my head in confusion.

I saw one of his eyelids tic. "...Bonnie," he said in a level, calm tone.

Oh! "Oh! She stuck me in the calf with whatever was in this!" I flung out the leg in question and narrowly avoided kicking Cisco in the shin. Remarkably, the syringe had made the trip here with me.

Caitlin gasped and Dr. Wells grip on my hand tightened as they took in the sight. "What was in this?! Your metabolism should be able to burn through almost anything immediately!"

"Well, that explains why she's high as a kite," Cisco said dryly.

"Cisco, run tests on what little traces of that injection is left in the syringe." Dr. Wells ordered in a sharp tone, making Cisco jump to the task in a hurry. "Caitlin, get ready to work on fixing up Berenice's shoulder. We need to get the bullet out before her wound tries to close around it." She nodded and quickly started grabbing her medical tools. Then his eyes cut back to mine with an intensity that almost sobered me, before I remembered that I was with my favorite person ever! I smiled at him.

"You're going to be alright, Berenice." He said in a deceptively soft voice, all low and baritone, a tone I've never heard from him before. The sound of his voice wrapped its way down my spine like warm flashes of electricity. I couldn't help but smile softly at him. "I know I will, Dr. Wells." I tried to further assure him that I was fine by laying the hand that he wasn't holding against the side of his face, framing it. He blinked at me and raised a brow. "And do you know why I know I'll be fine?" I whispered to him, like it was the most important secret in the universe. He tilted his head into my hand, his eyes never leaving mine. I grinned, showing my teeth. "It's because you said I will be." His blues widened at my simple answer. "I trust you with my life, and with you by my side, I feel _pretty_ confident that I'll make my way out of any situation alive, and stronger." My soft smile turned impish. "Or faster." I giggled at my own joke.

He was staring at me like he couldn't quite believe that I was real. I slowly pulled my tingling hand away from his face but he caught it before it could get too far, and brought it to his lips. My eyes widened and I stared transfixed at his lips, as if I could see the actual static that felt to be dancing under my skin where we touched. Dr. Wells pulled my hand away after a couple of seconds, that seemed like long, glorious minutes to me, and said in a voice so husky that my green eyes flew up to meet his to make sure it was still Dr. Wells I was here with.

Oh, what is _that_ look?

"Yes," Dr. Wells began, his voice as faint as if he were coming from two floors below instead of a dozen inches away. "You would be right, _Berenice,_ " he suddenly purred, _much_ better at sounding seductive than my attempt a couple days ago. "I hold your life in _very_ high regards, and it would be a shame to see those beautiful emerald eyes lose their light..." he gave me a smirk that had me entranced.

Suddenly it was like a shudder fell over his expression as he leaned away from me, letting go of my hand in the process, and I was about to ask where he was going, and to _please_ keep talking, when Caitlin returned.

"Okay, lets get you out of this," she said and helped me undo my suit's jacket. I couldn't help but pout at her for ruining that fantastic moment me and Dr. Wells had, and she answered with a confused and resigned look.

I ran both of my now free hands through my hair as she tried to get my arms out of the sleeves. Then, without warning, I started to sweat and feel hot and cold and then _PAIN._

I hissed in agony and grabbed for my shoulder, startling Dr. Wells and Caitlin. "Oh God, my shoulder's killing me!" I whimpered, painful tears gathering at the corners of my eyes.

"It looks like the mystery serum has finally worn off," Dr. Wells said and reached for my hand again, giving me a supportive squeeze.

"Unlucky timing," Caitlin quipped as she pushed my top down around my waist. "Now she's going to feel it."

Nope, I'm not, I thought feeling sweet relief as darkness swept me under, and succumbed without a fight.

 **8888**

I felt like I got ran over by a bus. Or five.

I also felt extremely lethargic and groggy as I tried to force my eyes open, but only one chose to obey while the other was coated in something like sand. I lifted a heavy hand up to my face and vigorously rubbed at my eyes before I tried to sit up. I barely got half-way before I paused at the pulling sensation on my shoulder. Oh, that's right. I got shot earlier, at the bank. Also, I think I got hit by a moped?

Oh.

 _Oh..._

Oh my god, _I_ hit the moped.

I acted like a total _moron._

How can I ever face Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells ever again?

"Ah, hello sleeping beauty!" Apparently easier than I thought.

I slowly turned my head towards the trio who were looking at me with a mix of concern, relief, and humor. I sighed.

"I can not _wait_ to take you out drinking some time!" Cisco laughed, and I wanted to die. "If that's what you're like when you're doped up, I can't wait to see you wasted!"

Just the thought of drinking had me wanting to curl up and go back to sleep. "I'm, uh, I'm sorry guys..."

"It's alright, Berenice," Dr. Wells interjected, giving me a caring smile. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Oh yeah, I remember," I said glumly. "I remember the couple of bank robbers who shot and drugged me, escaped while I was loopy, _and_ I remember almost breaking my neck on the trip here like ten times..."

I tried to give them an apologetic smile. "Sorry for being so difficult, by the way."

Caitlin sighed and looked to be fighting a smile of her own. "What's important is that you're okay now, _and_ we managed to break down what you were injected with...among other things," she trailed off as she shared looks with the two men.

My brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, as it turns out, we are vaguely familiar with the formula of the serum. Or at least, the groundwork. It's advanced since we last saw it a couple years ago..." Dr. Wells explained. At my astonished look, he tapped at his tablet and brought up the formula on one of the monitors. "What you're looking at is a highly potent, and highly _deadly_ serum to a normal human being. The reason we are familiar with it, is because years ago, it was created here by two colleagues of Dr. Snow's."

"Their names are Toshiro and Neela Fuya, a married couple," Caitlin continued and pulled up their pictures.

"That's them!" I confirmed.

"They created the serum to help increase pain tolerance for sick and injured patients, but what they did behind closed door was much more sinister," I raised an eyebrow at her. "They were secretly kidnapping orphans and homeless people and conducting human experiments on them." she finished in a slightly hushed voice, and I felt the blood drain from my face. They...hurt and experimented on _children?_

"Eventually, they were discovered and arrested, their next door neighbors having seen them carrying a lot of questionable looking things out of their cellar." Cisco continued, and looked down at the ground in sadness. "They killed a lot of people."

Feeling sick, I looked over to Dr. Wells and saw him already staring at me. "If they were caught and prosecuted, why are they out robbing banks now?" I asked, trying to keep my tone calm and not accusatory.

"Apparently they went missing shortly after being moved from Iron Heights a couple years ago," he answered and shook his head in dismay. "They were pronounced dead."

"But, that doesn't even make sense!" I exclaimed, looking between the three. "Why would-"

"What we think happened, was that they were broken out," Caitlin interrupted. "They must have made some rich and powerful friends before getting caught. But the real question is, now that we know they're at large, why are they robbing banks?" she asked and looked to Dr. Wells.

"That is the question..." he sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. "But," he continued and looked up at me with a small quirk of his lips. "We may have a lead on where they're staying."

My green eyes widened. "Already? How long was I out?!"

"Only for about an hour, don't worry." Cisco soothed. "We have a kinda-sorta lead. See, we don't have their old contact information in our systems anymore, and whoever helped them escape before must have had a good hacker with them, because almost everything personal on them is erased from the internet." He smiled at my downtrodden expression. "But we still have the hard files."

I blinked at that. "Hard files?"

"Yup! See, STAR Labs has a separate office specifically for paperwork and forms on all of our employees and projects. We just gotta go by there and search through the files until we find the Fuya's."

"That's great! Give me the location, and I'll run over-"

"No!" Caitlin interjected and placed her hands on her hips. "Absolutely not! You need to take it easy for at least another couple of hours until the bullet wound completely heals. Also, your body is _still_ recovering from the drug that Neela got you with. If you run too much too soon, your body might shut down again!" I blanched at that.

"O-okay, um, I'll search at the good old fashioned speed then," I conceded, slightly peeved that I couldn't work at my own pace.

"You won't be going alone," Dr. Wells added, swiftly drawing my eyes to him. "Some of those files might be coded, and only Cisco, Caitlin and I know that as STAR Labs employees, so we'll be going with you." he stated with a small smile.

Okay.

"Actually, I think maybe just you, me and Berry should go, Dr. Wells. I've heard horror stories about the spiders in that place, and we all know how Caitlin gets about those." Cisco said with a teasing grin towards the woman, who froze. Wait, spiders?

"Why would there be spiders?" I asked quickly. Maybe too quickly, considering the looks the too men gave me. "I-I mean, don't the people taking care of the building, well, take care of it?" I asked.

"Ah, actually, after the particle accelerator blew, the employees manning the building also quit, so now the only people with access to SLAP are here in this room." then his look turned a bit sheepish. "And well, considering how...distracted...we've been since meeting you, we haven't really given the office much thought since."

A couple things that should be addressed here, like how could Dr. Wells make a sheepish expression look _cute_? But I only voiced one. "...SLAP?" I asked skeptically.

"STAR Labs Archival Project." Cisco answered.

"Ah," I nodded, and decided to attempt at getting up onto my own two feet again. "Well, what are we waiting for? Lets head over to the office and get started so we can find these bastards."

 **8888**

Cisco drove the three of us towards the building in one of the company vans, with Dr. Wells sitting shotgun and I reclined in the backseat, secretly enjoying being able to just be taken somewhere instead of running. It was kinda relaxing after the ordeal I went through earlier.

We parked outside of the building, and I couldn't help but be unimpressed with how it looked. While the STAR Labs looked new and pristine, SLAP looked old and worn. It was obvious that they showed no expense to the place.

The SLAP office sat at the center of a large U-bend in the road. It sat a bit recessed from the rest of the buildings on the street, and the others in the row were painted with bright colors and lavish decorations that drew attention away from the small, squat, and dark building.

I jumped out of the vehicle and went to stand in the vacant street. I patiently waited for Dr. Wells and Cisco to exit the van and crossed my arms when I saw a crooked old man who was bald, stout, and kinda resembled a bulldog, exit a small house next to SLAP. The only _real_ difference between the man and an actual bulldog was the possibility that underneath the long, grime covered bathrobe, the old man _could_ be walking on two feet.

He marched made his way over to where I was standing and glared at me. I raised an eyebrow in defensive confusion. Seriously, what the hell?

"What business do you have here, girl?" he grunted in an unfriendly tone.

"I'm just here on STAR Labs business." I stated in a flat tone, shooting him an irritated look.

"Do you have credentials?"

I huffed and lowered my arms. "No, but I have-" I tried to point behind me when he cut me off.

"If you don't have credentials, you have no business being here," The man practically growled. "Now, get out of here, before I call the authorit-"

I heard a throat clear behind me and a hand rest on the middle of my back as Dr. Wells wheeled up beside me with Cisco. "Is there a problem here, Mr. Gerald?" he asked in cold voice.

The old man gasped as he saw Dr. Wells. "D-Dr. Wells! It's good to see you, sir!" Yeah, who needed credentials when you had the actual _owner_ here with you?

I quickly categorized the man as a particularly talented talking frog, seeing the sun catch the unshed tears in the lackey's eyes. I then realized that no human could have such small, beady eyes, or have such oily, unwashed skin. Maybe this guy was a victim to the particle accelerator as well?

I eyed him a bit more warily as I half-heartedly listened to Cisco explain that this man was supposedly the only employee left who watched over the office, and that we were the first people to visit since the explosion. Not very comforting.

We followed the attendant as he stumbled (though, the word I'd been searching for was 'hopped') over to the door, fumbled for his key, and twisted it into the lock. Then he used a card key to unlock the last, slightly newer lock. The door parted with a foreboding creak that only _coincidentally_ sounded like a shrill woman's shriek of horror. The door pivoted on it's hinges while we all gazed in horrified fascination.

I couldn't help but think that _this_ was the real reason the other employees quit as I gazed into the dark room. Captain Cold was an evil bastard, but not even Snart would be cruel enough to force me into the office. Cisco Ramon, however, apparently was the personification of malevolent beings who wished pain upon the innocent, because he pressed a hand between my shoulder blades and gave me a firm nudge forward.

I took one step, then a second and a third, and before my feet could halt themselves, I was onto my sixteenth and then seventeenth, and I still wasn't halfway through the office. I felt in that instance, that if I kept walking for a hundred years, I still wouldn't be halfway through the office.

From the looks of it, it had been a house once. It had suffered through many renovations, but it was apparent that once, someone had lived here. There was a well worn, incredibly ugly couch smashed against one wall, it's presence announced by the small incline of height in the level of boxes and the small corner of one arm, clad in neon green and yellow dots scattered throughout. There was also a staircase leading up to a second story, but the thick railing and wide spaces between posts proved that it was definitely built many, many years ago from the signs of age.

The boxes themselves where almost level with my head. Some were cardboard, and though there were a multitude of shades of brown, most looked old to the point of disintegrating on touch, not to mention a hard breath's away from toppling over in a cascade of towers down the one thin aisle that wasn't completely covered in _something._ The aisle was large enough that me and Cisco could get through, but Dr. Wells was having trouble getting his wheelchair between the boxes.

The kitchen was directly opposite the front door. Once, it had been the break room for whatever poor bastards had worked here. There was a large coffee pot that had three layers of dust on it, as opposed to the eighteen present everywhere else visible. It had obviously been well loved to the bitter end. There weren't quite as many boxes in the kitchen as there had been in what was probably the living room, but that wasn't saying much. There was a carved trail which went from the entrance of the room, to the coffee maker, to the refrigerator, which, like the rest of the house, wasn't powered.

The dark didn't really bother me that much, as I'd spent a lot of my time when I was younger sneaking out of the house like the rebellious kid that I had tried to be, and spent plenty of time taking lonely walks at night when I was angry at the world, at Joe, and just my situation in general, that I felt kinda secure in the dark. It helped that I was accustomed to seeing fairly well in the dark. There were no windows in the SLAP office, so what light was drifting through the office beamed through the dirtied curtain and peeling newspaper thrown against the windows of the front door, and it barely reached the kitchen.

I slowly turned my head so that I could glance at Dr. Wells, who could apparently see well enough to glance back. The older man had the good grace to look sheepish. "It is rather...more than I expected."

"More what? More of a goddamn catastrophe? Did the old employees even do _any_ work while they were in charge of this place?" I asked, and hoisted myself onto the counter between what seemed like a stack of newspapers and a metal device which was either used in hair dressing or for interrogation. I earned myself a jealous glare from the minion, a longing stare from Cisco, and a sigh from Dr. Wells.

"I'm beginning to wonder about that, as well..." he said and scratched at the back on his neck. I glanced up at the sight of flickering shadows and grimaced at the canopy of spiderwebs that hung from the ceiling, and thought that it would probably be a couple inches higher if someone removed them. On second thought, that 'someone' would probably, inevitably be me.

I shifted my hold on the counter and felt a sharp prick on the edge of my finger, and immediately turned my eyes back down to look at my hand. Ugh, I had caught it on a random splinter that was sticking out.

"Cisco, would you happen to know how things are filed in here?" he asked, moving closer to me and gently took my now bleeding hand. "What is it sorted by? Years and categories? Alphabetically?" he extended my index finger softly enough to almost be a _caress_ and brought up his other hand to grab hold of the menacing looking splinter that was lodged into my skin.

"Eh, hell if I know, sir. It'd be a big help if it _was_ though." Cisco said from behind Dr. Wells and turned around in circles to try to survey the boxes, probably hoping to find some labels.

I stared transfixed on Dr. Wells face as his blue eyes were narrowed in concentration and he carefully pinched the end of the wood. His eyes suddenly flicked up to meet mine and he yanked out the splinter. I was so focused on his expression and the ever-present tingles that I barely even felt any pain.

I could hear Cisco mumbling about something in the background, but I didn't dare look to investigate, not when Dr. Wells had yet to return my hand. "Is that better?" he asked lowly, looking up at me from under his lashes.

Oh yeah.

He seemed to pause for a moment, before raising an eyebrow slightly and smirked. Oh, I said that out loud.

I need to stop doing that.

I laughed awkwardly and couldn't help but notice how close we were. My shoes were almost touching his knees. "I mean, uh, thank you..."

"Would you like me to also disinfect it?" He asked in that same tone, and at seeing my confused stare, he slowly started to drag my finger closer to himself, eyes shining brightly and his smirk widening. My eyes grew rounded. No way...

He opened his lips and I started to feel like I was going to hyperventilate at seeing the glint of his bottom teeth. _He was!_

The little toady henchman I had forgotten was still lurking around gasped and sputtered, and I felt as if the spell had been broken. Before my bloodied finger could touch his lips I gently pulled it away, and felt my face get hot. I cleared my throat and tried to give him a normal smile instead of a weird one. "Th-thank you, Dr. Wells, but you don't have to do that..." I stuttered, and quickly jammed my finger into my own mouth, as if he was going to try to take it back, and I knew I wouldn't be able to resist twice.

He gave me a knowing look and smiled. "Of course," He leaned back into his chair.

"So," I mumbled, sucking on my finger for a moment before feeling the skin start to itch. I removed it to see that it had already healed. "any luck over there, Cisco?"

Cisco ran a hand through his long hair. "Well, not really. Or, maybe? This looks like it's labeled with a date," he gestured to the box in front of him that he'd been perusing. "but it could _also_ be what section of SLAP it's supposed to be filed in. Since all the paperwork was gathered for different buildings, the boxes are categorized by what they were filed in the old cabinets, or well, now boxes..."

"You mean," I asked carefully, and tried to calm my self by wiping off a layer of dust from the sink only to find _more_ dust underneath it. "that there are _more_ places like this?"

The wave of Cisco's hand seemed to be apologetic. "Ah, not anymore. Everything got moved to this one building, hence," he waved his hand around them now, " _this_ horror show."

Dr. Wells let out a chuckle and brushed a thick layer of soot-like dust off his chest. It clung to the black cloth like ash with a bad temper and a grudge, and I couldn't help but give him a teasing smirk as I rubbed one hand down my own chest, where my white blouse was _still_ white. He tracked the hand and let out another chuckled, an almost delighted smile lighting up his face. The lackey seemed to whimper, and Cisco let out a snicker.

"Ah, Mr. Gerald, thank you for your service. Cisco will escort you out." Dr. Wells said as he looked over his shoulder at the two men. I took the bittersweet moment of leaving his attention and hopped down from the counter in an awkward jump, so I wouldn't step on his toes or (God forbid,) land in his lap.

As Cisco led the weakly protesting old man away, I glanced around. The kitchen had a little bit more walking space than the rest of the house (as far as I could tell). I scooted around Dr. Wells' wheelchair and slowly paced the aisle. I noted how there were some columns of boxes which seemed less sturdy than others, while other rows seemed ready to topple all the ones around it down. I tapped a few boxes, coughing at the clouds of dust. One box was so completely covered in cobwebs that the knock was completely _muffled._

I let out a sigh and turned back to look and Dr. Wells and the returned Cisco. "Well, considering the space we have, it might be a good thing I'm not running through here with super speed. I wouldn't have room to move around and all."

Cisco nodded. "Yeah, that'd be a problem." The young man shifted in front of me, and we came stomach to stomach as we passed in the thin aisle. Cisco paced down the aisles, knocked on a few boxes, and went all the way to the door and peeled back one sheet of newspaper. Over his shoulder, I spotted Mr. Toad Gerald near one of the alleyways on the other side of the street, glancing around like a watchdog. Was he seriously keeping the look out?

With a satisfied nod, Cisco turned back to face Dr. Wells and I. "If we do this carefully, I think we can get a few boxes in this entryway done in minutes. We can start pulling trash and boxes out at both ends, and eventually we'll be able to speed up the process after we have more room." He rubbed his chin and turned towards Dr. Wells. "Hey Dr. Wells, do you know if this place still has electric at all, or are all the lights just burned out? It might be a problem if we can't get this done before dark." My eyebrows shot up. God, we could _actually_ be here all day?!

I glanced around in resigned dismay. Shit, we definitely could be here all day.

"It should be powered, Mr. Gerald was saying earlier that the bills were still being paid..." He answered in skeptical voice.

"Right!" I said, gaining my companions attention. "Might as well get started. Let's try to get as much room in here as possible so _I_ can speed through this as much as possible. By the time we do that, I should be healed enough to tap into some super speed. We can figure out trash as we go, but for now, ditch anything so moldy or censored we can't tell anything from it?" I asked Dr. Wells. He nodded his assent. "Cisco, you want to run errands outside if need be?"

He nodded and jerked his thumb towards the door. "Sure, we'll need bags, boxes, tape, bug spray, and..." He trailed off, smacking one fist on an open palm. "Munchies!" he finished with a grin.

I nodded at him seriously, and almost laughed out loud when Dr. Wells did the same. "Definitely."

"Go ahead and swing by STAR Labs and grab the Tn-7 form; we can mark down supplies as work expenses and you can get reimbursed for it." the older man informed Cisco with a quirk of his lips. The other man nodded gratefully.

My eyes looked to the wall, the boxes, the ceiling, and the rather lazy looking spiders nesting above them all, and tried to think of anything else we might need. Not thinking of anything, I glanced back at the other two and blinked at the suddenly sly look Cisco was giving me. I raised a brow questioningly.

"By the way," he started, with a worrisome glint in his eye, "don't think I forgot about what Felicity said the other day about you and _Mr. Kent!_ "

I felt the blood halt in my veins. It didn't precisely freeze, as it was more to the effect that my heart didn't have the will to keep on beating. I, of course, love the attention from Dr. Wells any time it was given. However, there was something worrying about just how Dr. Wells was glancing at me. It was just like how the genius looked when he was bent over incredibly complicated quantum puzzles-the sort that had me usually baffled. It made me feel like I was being scanned inside out, like I was being completely dissected, with all my body parts spread out and labeled.

But, as unsettling as that was, nothing unsettled me as much as...the fanboy.

Ever since Trivia Night at Jitters, I'd started to nurse the fear that Kent could not only hear my name being said from the other side of the city, but also could read minds when the words 'Berry Allen' were thought within a three mile radius around him. I made a frantic shushing motion at the two men. "He'll hear you!" I hissed, watching the door anxiously as if he was going to burst in any second.

They stared at me with incredulous confusion. "Kent, the guy you went on a date with...will hear you?" Cisco added, sounding, and _looking_ doubtful. "Berry, are you still feeling off from before..." he trailed off when he saw that my normally tanned skin was losing color so rapidly that I almost matched my shirt.

"Berenice? Are you alright?" Dr. Wells asked, worry coloring his face as I raised a badly shaking hand to run through my short hair.

"Yeah, I think it's just my recently acquired PTSD," I said, my voice uneven and cracking with every syllable.

Cisco's eyebrows shot up and Dr. Wells blue eyes hardened into ice. "Did that man hurt you, Berenice?" he asked in low, wrathful tone as he leaned forward in his chair.

I shook my head. "No, he's just a...he..." I paused, my hands flailing and grasping in front of me while my mouth traced unreadable silent syllables. Finally, I inhaled sharply enough that clouds of dust gravitated towards me, and finished in a rather high pitched sentence. "Kent's my fanboy." I practically sagged, as if saying the words out loud took all my strength away.

They blinked at me, and took a couple moments to absorb what I told them. Cisco starting to shake a bit, before he was barely standing up as he let out choked laughter. Dr. Wells lost his scary expression, and was looking like he was desperately trying to not do the same.

I groaned in embarrassment at the triggered reaction to my plight. I rubbed my foot back and forth across the old rug in tight motions out of habit and accidentally tapped into my speed, causing it to start to smoke a bit. The sight caused Cisco to stop, finally. "Hey, careful with the friction! That's pretty much asking for a huge inferno of death and doom in this place."

"If only that could take me now," I muttered, but stopped anyway. "Look, it's not something I even _want_ to remember, especially since Eddie gave the guy my freaking work schedule, _just_ so he can find time to try to find me on my breaks, and I just barely escaped yesterday with my life when you called me after work." I let out a irritated huff. "Like you, he and Felicity think it's just _hilarious_ that Kent has such a reverent crush on me."

What I didn't understand was how the hell Kent hadn't taken the hint that I was totally uninterested. The kid was oblivious to the fact that I twitched with every worshiping syllable he used when saying 'Lady Allen' or now, 'Lady Berry.'

Cisco's call about a car chase last night sang through my phone's speakers like choirs of birds and flocks of angels.

I brought myself back to the present with a shake and quickly changed the subject at seeing Cisco open his mouth to most likely inquire further. "Alright, I don't know about you guys, but I haven't eaten since before the whole fiasco earlier, so could you also bring back some Big Belly Burger for us, Cisco?" I asked. "I'll have my usual."

He sighed and rolled his eyes, deciding to drop it. "Yeah sure, Dr. Wells? You want your usual too?"

Dr. Wells finally took his eyes off me and glanced at Cisco with an affirmative nod. "Yes, please. That sounds tremendous, thank you." He turned back to me as Cisco headed out to get what we needed. "Shall we?" he gestured around the room.

 **8888**

"Alright," I began, twisting the paper in my hands another sixty degrees while my head turned the other way. "You guys have records of Early Development? This is nine years ago..." Actually, it may be older.

There was the sound of hands flipping through boxes, discarding papers in tight wads, and brushing over paper, white and _yellow_ as Dr. Wells and Cisco processed my request. Then, Cisco answered with a "Yo! Right here!" and I nodded as he picked up the second box in his stack, carefully pulling it out and steadying the one above it with a forearm while his leg kept the one below from spilling imminent doom on the surrounding area. Removing the lid, he said, "Got some old blueprints, a few attendance forms, and a couple of take out menus here."

I shrugged, and then felt guilty when Cisco had to use some impressive reflexes to avoid getting hit with my bony elbow, as we were practically smashed shoulder to shoulder. I scanned the form once, noting the faded imprints left in the paper where the ink had actually worn off over time. "Hey, Dr. Wells, you remember this guy?"

Dr. Wells lifted a faded lid from yet another box, leaning back quickly as the cloud of dust consumed the entire area like a sandstorm. He coughed, waving one hand in front of him, and I tried for what felt like the thousandth time in the hours that we've been here, to not stare.

The handsome man had been alternating between setting his constantly dusty glasses on top of his head and only using them when he needed to read something that was exceptionally hard to make out. Now, rationally, I _knew_ that Dr. Wells had muscles. With how tight his long sleeve shirts are, and how often I dragged my gaze upon the unsuspecting man, it was hard _not_ to notice. I still felt rather blindsided when he had rolled up his shirt sleeves so that they bunched up on his big, muscled biceps as the labored breath of the gathered people turned the dark, damp, dreary office into a sauna. What I would _never_ forget, was the fact that after Dr. Wells' black shirt got too hot, the man took that off too.

I _had_ thought that I'd never have more arousing dreams than the ones caused by the increasingly constant flirty looks in Dr. Wells eyes when he talks to me, or a relapse of complete mental failure when having thoughts about the 'incident' with the selfies, and the kiss on the cheek. Instead, I knew i'd have wet dreams for at least the rest of the week (and more likely, the rest of the month), about Harrison Wells' naked chest, glistening in a thin layer of sweat which perfectly highlighted the light amount of hair that dusted the middle of his chest, all over the smooth skin. His impressive abdominal muscles crunched together mouthwatering every time he leaned this way and that. What was worse (or better) was that I was facing him at the time that he made the decision to completely shut my brain, and ovaries, down. My brain wasn't out of commission enough to make sure I'd never, every be able to forget this moment though. _Never._

I shook by head almost violently, trying to keep it together, and Dr. Wells pretended not to see it, but I could tell he did by that little quirk of his lips. I felt Cisco's hair brush against me as he read the paper from over my shoulder. He too, was shirtless, having followed his bosses example when the heat started to get to him. Even though they had both seen me in my underwear, I wasn't brave enough to strip mine off too. Instead, I just unbuttoned the bottom half of my blouse and tied the ends into a knot just under my breasts to expose my sweaty midriff to the cool, yet stuffy air. "Back in the beginning of STAR Labs development, apparently." Suddenly he snickered. "He says you sucked."

Dr. Wells looked at us curiously as I paused for a moment, reading over the employee's complaint, before I giggled as well and passed the page back to Cisco. "Yeah, put this in pre-production. It's just a letter bitching about how Dr. Wells' "arrogance" and "condescending tendencies" were unfounded reasons for termination."

Dr. Wells tilted his head, one finger tapping his chin before his eyes widened. "Ah! Mr. Maxis." His lips stretched in a bitter smile. "Yes, I was a bit hard to work with, back then." I blinked at that.

Oh. That was shortly after Tess Morgan...

I cleared my throat and Cisco awkwardly shuffled back to his section of paperwork. I tapped my foot on the floor and was surprised when it hit carpeting and not paper and/or moss that had evolved it's defense mechanism of _looking_ like newspaper. I caught a look at my capris and let out a disgusted whimper at the three solid inches of spiderweb clinging to my legs. I let out a sigh and ran a hand through my hair, realizing too late that there was a solid rope of spider silk attached to it. I grimaced and tried (in vain) to flick it onto the nearest target.

Dr. Wells didn't look amused.

I gave him a sheepish smile and stealthily wiped the strand on one of Cisco's legs as he attempted to haul himself out of his box. Dr. Wells let out a sigh from behind me and continued to rummage in his pile of documents, and Cisco finally righted himself and held up what looked to be a small, shiny, black wooden case. What he didn't see, until he held it up to the light from the doorway while turning it this way and that, was the perfectly camouflaged spider sitting on the case. It started scuttling towards his fingers with it's-too-many legs the second natural light touched it's form. Cisco let out a undignified shriek, and hurled it away from himself with enough force to make the crawling creature in question fly off it's surface. The case was still sailing through the air. At me.

I was especially glad for my super speedy reflexes because if the case had actually hit my _hand,_ it probably would have hurt. The forehead, however, was a perfectly accepting landing zone for a case that felt like it weighed ten pounds, filled with nothing short of rocks and evil intentions.

I barreled backwards into the next person in line. As it so happened, that was Harrison Wells. As it _also_ happened, the sitting man was still half-naked.

I fell into his waiting (bare, _sweaty)_ arms with enough force that I heard his breath leave him in a 'whoosh'. My body froze once my brain registered what was happening with starling clarity. My damp back was resting against his equally sweaty, defined chest, his breath moving strands of my hair as he tried to get his breath back from the collision. I started to slowly slide down his body and out of the chair before Dr. Wells quickly wrapped his arms around my exposed middle (holy shit) to stop me from tumbling to the floor. My legs were strewn out haphazardly in front of us and my hands had automatically held onto his parted thighs for purchase when I first landed. They were just laying there limply now, but dear God, for having useless legs, they sure were _hard_ and _firm-_

As the electric currents were running rampart through my body, and my ovaries felt like they were exploding from _too much too soon_ , and my body was still frozen in a state of sensory overload, Dr. Wells let out a huff and removed one of his arms to pull us upright in the wheelchair, grunting slightly in my hair with the effort, a sound that went straight to my-

Cisco shuffled over guiltily and waved a hand in front of my eyes a few times, a fact which I only vaguely registered in the back of my mind-the part that wasn't filled with sexy, sweaty, _flexing_ things that made me want to just melt right then and there.

"Berenice? Do you need a little assistance?" Dr. Wells' tone held something like laughter within itself, and maybe something a little heavier underneath that.

"Berry?" The teasing note in Cisco's words let me know that yes, I was still alive and here. "We'll never find this address if you don't stop using Dr. Wells as a sofa."

I tried to give out a retort, but could only whimper.

Cisco had a smirk which, despite being the first thing I really focused on, also managed to be the first thing I truly wanted to punch since becoming more aware. It was _this_ bastards fault I'm in this situation!

But, my fractured, broken mind eventually split and reformed the younger man's sentence until I understood it. We needed to find this address and find and stop Toshiro and Neela, before they ended up hurting anybody else. This was no time to be acting like a sex depraved freak. Still, I couldn't hide the shudders that wracked my body as I pulled myself away from the genius behind me, and barely trapped the whimper in my throat when his hands clamped around my hips to help me.

Dr. Wells sighed dramatically as I finally gained enough strength to pull myself off the older man. "That case couldn't possibly have hurt you that badly, right Berenice?"

"No." I whispered.

I slowly twisted my head around, hoping I could hide some of the mortification and arousal from my face as I glanced at Dr. Wells' raised eyebrow. "Then," he pressed, "exactly why were you..."

"Your naked chest." The words caused Cisco to give a full body shudder, most likely for different reasons, considering the look of embarrassment and disgust on his face. Surprised by my own truthfulness, I pulled myself upright; in more ways than one, and brushed off the newly acquired dust from my blouse, and tried to concentrate on that and _nothing else._ "Sorry for falling on you, Dr. Wells."

I wasn't sure how the older man would react to that comment, but a _pout_ was so far down the list of possibilities that it didn't even register until it was already wiped off his face.

"Well, I'm gonna need an extra trash bag, besides the case, this box is full of vacation brochures...and spiders." Cisco said as he shuffled towards the carton of Hefty bags and I turned to the side to see where the case had landed after beaning me in the face, and found that it had clattered next to Dr. Wells' left wheel. I quickly picked it up as the green moss carpeting of the floor was oozing towards the item with an intent of feeding.

Dr. Wells hummed to himself for a moment when he caught a look at the dark colored object. He extended one hand, and I obediently placed the case into it. Instead of opening it himself, which was what I was expecting, the man twisted the scroll so that the bronze latch caught the light at different angles. He pressed a thumb above the lock and deftly removed it. He then handed back the case with a firm affirmative nod, and my curiosity quickly overrode my questions.

I practically tore the lid open and didn't expect the small cloud of dust to come billowing out, and, because of said cloud, I missed the small, deceptively heavy book, a small assortment of paperweights with the STAR Labs logo imprinted on them, and a handful of pens.

Luckily, none of these items landed on the irate, hungry floor. Unfortunately, they all landed on my feet.

"Fuck!" I hissed and did a little hop, trying to avoid bumping into things and squash the urge to fling the collection of paperweights through the door. After I settled down, I gathered the items up and set the paperweights on a nearby sturdy box, my attention focused on the book which had so slighted me.

I was almost disappointed when I saw that it was actually a journal, and I opened it to see if there was a signature somewhere to tell me who's it was. The inside of the hardback book had a small series of numbers penciled in at the top. I couldn't make them out, but I did recognize the script on the second page, that was in Dr. Wells' hand.

A fresh burst of excitement made my fingers flick through the pages far faster than those fingers ever moved with super speed. Every page had little comments littered throughout, trailing through lines of what appeared to be plans and equations for the particle accelerator, arching on the tops of the pages, or drifting through the bottoms. I was careful not to bend the pages too far, or turn the pages too fast, because post it notes carried on what seemed like entire rants, and one section-I think it said 'Uses for the Military" at the top- had all the page's original script angrily crossed out with large black pen and replaced by a huge stack of folded paper which, at the peek I managed, looked to be written hastily, angrily, and with a wide variety of exciting curse words.

"Ah," Dr. Wells spoke, and the fact that I had actually forgotten that the author himself was there in the first place made me nearly drop the book. As it was, I reflexively hunched over, protecting the journal by drawing it further to my chest while my arms drew close to avoid being pulled out. "So," he continued fluidly, "it wasn't lost on that night."

"Huh?" I managed intelligently. "I mean, what do you...?" I trailed off as he leaned so that he was pressed against me, waving on arm swiftly in an attempt to gain Cisco's attention. My jaw quivered at the secretly desired contact. "What else is in that box, Cisco?" he called over to the younger man.

He turned to regard us with (guilty?) eyes and absently wiped the corner of his mouth, that I was baffled to see had a brown smear on one edge. With a grunt of effort, he lifted up the box and walked over to us.

Dr. Wells lifted up one end of it and set the box on his lap and backed up far enough that his chair hit the wall and, instead of continuing to the kitchen where, after all this time, we'd cleared enough space for another person to stand (or sit if they were very creative), he gestured for Cisco and I to stay where we were.

Dr. Wells carefully shuffled through the box while we watched somewhat impatiently. First off was a thick layer of web that had a suspicious Cisco-shaped hole. The man lifted it up, attempted to glance through it and gestured for one of us to place it in a new trash bag. As Cisco obliged, the older man was mumbling under his breath, and I caught words like 'classified', 'unorganized', and 'acceptable risk' in between elbow-deep digs. After shuffling for what seemed like a number of minutes, Dr. Wells began handing me book after book. Some were blue, others red, some were wrapped in string, one had a wet dog smell, one was half covered in what looked like ink, and the box didn't seem to be more than half empty at any time during the process.

With a confused curve of his eyebrow, Dr. Wells pulled out a slightly dusty, half-empty box of Milk duds, with the big bold words of 'CISCO RAMON' written on the side. He turned to me, and I couldn't help but feel the same sense of confusion, and then to Cisco, who glanced at the box with the pain and suffering of one who has been separated from their one true love.

Dr. Wells sighed and I couldn't help but give Cisco a look of disgust. Dr. Wells tossed the box to Cisco and he immediately dug back into it. "Do you think it's wise to give him that? I mean, it's _got_ to be expired, right?" I watched the older man pushed up his glasses so that they rested in his hair and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I would be more worried about the fact that that particular box is five years old, Berenice." Dr. Wells chuckled. "It was already open when Cisco found it, by the way."

I paused. "So, Cisco was munching on, what, two year old Milk Duds?" At the mans nod, something inside me wished that my sister was here, just so I could stand back and watch the resulting violence. Iris' reaction to the fact that I had -and eaten- month old pizza was bad enough, but I bet the chastisement would be a whole lot sweeter if I was watching it and not receiving it.

"This," Dr. Wells spoke, "contains a lot of Cisco's, Caitlin, and my own possessions from the night of the explosion." The fact that the man could speak the last part of that sentence without flinching or hesitation, unlike Cisco and Caitlin at times, made me respect him even more than before (if that were possible).

"So, this box was one of the most recent additions to the place?"

"Hmm, it's very possible."

I nodded. "Anyway," I ventured, feeling the heavy weight of my idol's personal journal beneath the stack of books. "what do you plan on doing with all this?"

Dr. Wells made a small noise in his throat and leaned forward to carefully shove the box to the ground by his feet. "I suppose," he began, "that we'll take this box back to STAR Labs so that we can go through our things and see what we want pitched or kept." With a nod, he carefully took all of the books in my arms and replaced them back into the box. He paused when he caught sight of his journal. He was quiet for a moment, before he slowly dragged his blue eyes up to meet mine. "I'm not really sure I have much use for this anymore...so why don't you keep it?" he offered with a small smile.

My heart stopped.

I slowly felt a wide smile stretch across my face. "Thank you, Dr. Wells. I'll take good care of it." I gingerly took the book from his hands.

His small smile started to curl into a smirk. "Oh, I'm sure you will, Beren-"

"Guys! I _found_ it!" Cisco's enthused shout interrupted.

Our head whipped around to stare at him with hopeful faces. "You found the address?" I breathed.

He walked over to us and help up a folder. "Yup! This has all of their old research and contact information, and a lot of notes and ideas back in the box I was searching." He said, jerking a thumb behind him and handed the folder to Dr. Wells. He held up a page to our relieved eyes, showing the address that we were looking for.

"Good job Cisco!" I grinned and slapped him on the arm, the sound of our skin connecting resonating throughout the room.

Cisco enthusiastically pointed out some key sentences on the papers Dr. Wells was reading, and in the mean time, I took a wide glance around the office. Within an hour of beginning what would be known later as 'The SLAP endeavor', we had expanded the pathway to the point where we could fit two of Dr. Wells' wheelchairs through without much problem. Though the aisles got wider, 'longer' was still a problem. Dr. Wells had decided that extra room gained would be used to sort papers more precisely. As it turned out, this was proved to be a very good idea.

When we first began, many of the boxes nearest to the ceiling were automatically thrown away. Despite how valuable they might be to zoologists, colonies of spiders that looked to be the size of my palm decorated their webs with strips of paper, creeping me the hell out, and I was sure it would take nothing less than a flamethrower to remove them.

"Alright," The word broke through my thoughts completely, shattering them to the point that I couldn't remember exactly why I'd been staring at the spiders on the legs of Cisco's khaki's in the first place. "first things first, let's go back to STAR Labs and have Caitlin check your vitals. You _should_ be healthy enough now to use your speed, but it's better to be safe than to be sorry." Dr. Wells said and motioned for us to head to the door first. I led the line, with Cisco behind me carrying the box of personals and Dr. Wells bringing up the rear, holding both his and Cisco's shirts in his lap on top of the Fuya folder.

Eager to see actual sunlight again, I quickly whipped open the door. I regretted it.

The first thing I noticed was the fact that the rain felt like needles being hurled from someone particularly malevolent and rather inaccurate. Sharp pins attacked the street, the buildings, and I could hear them ringing on metal sidings, glass windows, and ceramic tiles all at once to the point where it seemed like a non-stop high pitched buzzing in my ears. Within two seconds of opening the door, me and the three feet of the office directly behind me were absolutely soaked.

The _second_ thing I noticed was that the toad man was still out front, drenched, now joined by a sympathetic looking Joe, and to my disbelief and horror, _Kent._

The mismatched trio looked over at the sound of the door opening, and peered with dropped jaws at the three of us with differing expressions of shock.

"I-I," Mr. Gerald began, his voice choking after the first few syllables. _Tears_ glistened in his eyes. "I can see the floor of SLAP. _I_ can see the _floor_ of _SLAP."_

Joe stared at me with a slowly reddening face and a incensed look in his eye. "Why the hell are all of your _shirts off."_ Not technically true, just the boys' were, although I was desperately wanting to fix my blouse to help shield my exposed skin to the harsh rain.

Kent's lips quivered as he looked at me like I was something of legends. I _knew_ Cisco and Dr. Wells jinxed me earlier when they talked about him and me in the same sentence. "Oh, you're _amazing,_ Lady Berry."

 **8888**

It took us a little while to get away from the group parked outside of SLAP.

After explaining our half-nakedness to an overprotective Joe (Cisco and Dr. Wells redressing at the sight of his glare), he relented and offered up the extra pink and yellow umbrella he brought that did an excellent job of keeping us out of the rain. I huddled under it with Dr. Wells and Cisco, but made sure that the man in the wheelchair got the most coverage.

The short, balding lackey kept asking so many questions about how we managed to organize and navigate SLAP that I discovered that I had a long-dormant instinct of chewing off my own leg. Unfortunately, I had the idea that my leg would probably grow back, and I'd be left to answer more questions than before.

Kent had kept dusting off my shirt, offering to clean it at his place (which earned him some glares from both Joe _and_ Dr. Wells), and had the habit of touching my back to 'brush off spiders." While I had no doubt that this was true the first six times or so, I started to get suspicious after I realized that each poke was followed with a gasp of reverence.

Looking fed up, Dr. Wells politely but briskly excused us so that we could return back to the labs and get started on the Fuya case. Glad, I silently decided to buy them a few minutes of peace and stayed back to smile and nod while Cisco helped the other man pull himself into the passenger side of the van. Seeing that they were secure, I apologized and patted my foster father on the arm in thanks before bolting to the van.

A lot of the streets were moderately abandoned, so the trip back didn't take as long as the trip to the office. Thunder crashed through the sky in the distance. I fished out the journal that Dr. Wells gave me from the box I placed it in earlier to protect it from the rain, and saw that it, thankfully, relatively unharmed. I thought about thumbing through it again, but decided against it when STAR Labs came into view.

Cisco parked and we all hurried back into the Cortex to meet with the waiting Caitlin. "You found it?" she asked, eyeing our wet, filthy appearances.

"Yeah, _finally."_ I said, scratching one side of my mouth. Dr. Wells wheeled over to one of the computers and started typing in the information from the documents on the Fuyas. Cisco set the box down by the desk with a grunt, and Caitlin glanced between that and me. "You're lucky, by the way, that you didn't come with us. Between all the work of peeling trash away, and removing the mega-spider colonies-" I paused at seeing her pale in fright. "-yeah, those things were _huge._ Huge and _spiteful._ That place was a hot mess. In the process of looking for the address, we _did_ manage to double the space of the aisle and actual let the floor see the light of day."

Caitlin's eyes got kind of wide at that. "You can see the floor of SLAP?"

"Yeah, damn ugly floor, too. You know, for the newspapers, moss, spider corpses-" Caitlin shuddered, "-and all that other stuff you have to get through, brown shag really is a crappy reward." It was all absolutely worth it though, I thought remembering all the wonderful things that happened in that office involving Dr. Wells.

"Anyway, could you please check me over, Caitlin? The faster I'm healed, the faster these two are behind bars."

She quickly nodded and let me over to the cot so that she could look over my vitals.

"Berenice, the Fuya's last know address is on the outskirts of town at 1207 Baptiste rd. It should be a two story house." Dr. Wells informed and I nodded and looked to Caitlin for the verdict.

She nodded at me. "You're good to go. But be careful!" She called after as I ran at full speed to my suit and quickly changed. "We don't have a way to counteract the serum if they inject you again! Remember, it's _lethal_ to regular people!" I nodded at her in thanks at sped off towards their possible location.

 **8888**

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that the married mad scientists were indeed hiding out here, and without giving them a chance to notice me, quickly dashed over to Mr. Fuya who was hunched over the open trunk of a car and slammed him into the metal, hoping to knock him out instantly. I did.

Mrs. Fuya gasped in alarm and scampered out of the backseat and pointed her gun at me, then paused when she caught sight of who I was. "What? B-but...how the hell are you alive?!" She screamed in fear and outrage.

I narrowed my green eyes and gave a sarcastic grin and suddenly started running around her in tight circles, causing her to become even more terrified and she started firing at the vortex of golden lightning, trying to hit the red blur. I dodged every single one of them and lashed out at her with a mean right hook, hoping that she could _feel_ my rage and horror at what she's done to all those innocent people.

She went down easily this time, joining her husband on the ground, out cold.

I was panting heavily as I stared down at them, before I slowly brought my hand up to my ear to turn on the comm. "They're down, Cisco. Go ahead and call Joe and let him know that I have two perps waiting for him."

"You got it."

I blurred through the scene and quickly and effectively cleared out their pockets and bags, grabbed all the syringes of the serum I could find, and tied them up for the police. I looked over everything in satisfaction, and ran back to STAR Labs to change back into my previous outfit.

 **8888**

After dropping off the serum for Caitlin, Cisco and Dr. Wells to analyze, I went by my foster father's house for dinner.

"Hey, right on time, Blueberry!" Iris called from the dining table as I walked through the door. I grinned at the mouthwatering smell coming from the food already sitting out at the table.

"Food smells great, guys." I walked over and quickly took a seat next to my sister, and she raised a brow at me.

"Jeez, what happened to you today?" she asked and lifted a hand as if to brush something off my sleeve, but decided against it.

I looked down at my outfit and blinked. "Oh, right. I was helping Dr. Wells and Cisco find something in an old office building, and it was pretty...uh, _un-cared for._ "

"Yeah, from what I saw, that's one way to put it." Joe added as he joined us at the table, a pitcher of what looked like tea in hand. "I only got a peek in there, but it looked pretty crowded. I'm surprised you actually found _anything_ in there."

"Yeah, it was crowded all right..." I said and couldn't stop the dreamy smile pulling at my lips as I recalled the painful, but oh so satisfying fall from earlier. Iris was looking at me with her eyebrows raised and Joe squinted at me suspiciously.

"I don't even want to know. Especially after seeing how you three came out of there." he grumbled, and starting scooping the lasagna out of the pan and onto his plate.

I snapped out of my daze and smiled nervously at the knowing look in Iris' eyes. I wasted no more time in helping myself to the food and stuffed some into my mouth to avoid answering any questions.

"Ah, that reminds me, Berry, I'm sorry about Kent tagging along." Joe said, sounding genuine as I looked at him with a frown. "I was with Eddie when I called your phone, and Caitlin told me where you guys were, and he said that sending Kent along would brighten your spirits."

I glared at the pitcher and couldn't help but wish it would shatter from the heat of my anger. "That son of a bitch..." I muttered. Of _course_ he did.

Iris sighed and shook her head next to me. "Dad didn't know about Kent's...uh, well he didn't know until I told him a little bit ago. I'll make sure to talk to Eddie about him later, Berry." she said and patted my shoulder in apology. I tore my gaze away from the unharmed pitcher and gave her a smile in thanks. I had such a great family.

 **8888**

 **Sorry about the long chapter, and lack of action, but I was mostly focusing on interactions between Berry, Dr. Wells, and Cisco. Caitlin's time will come, maybe next chapter. I'm undecided about starting Plastique or another chapter of filler with Caitlin and Berry interactions, and maybe some more fanboy Kent. xD**

 **I didn't really plan to make the Fuyas a big deal since they're not meta-humans, but I hope it wasn't _too_ boring. **

**Instead of writing and uploading chapters in bulk like I did with the first few, this one took days to do, and I got a little carried away with descriptions at times since some of this was written at home, and some a work, so sorry about that!**

 **Hope you liked it, ciao.**


	6. Where, What, How

**Some Caitlin and Berry interactions in this one. Might be a little short, and nothing huge for crime fighting, but'll be made up for when I start Plastique next chapter.**

 **Berry is OOC obviously lol. Hope you don't hate it.**

 **Hope you like it!**

 **8888**

I had long known that my apartment wasn't the best in Central City. It wasn't the worst in Central City though, and that's what counted. Well, to me at least. When I had moved into this apartment, it had been a godsend at the time. As much as I grew to love living with Joe and Iris, I had long since wanted my own space, especially in my college days. It was a hell of a lot easier to hide the late nights when I didn't have to sneak back into my foster father's home. It also made it easier to _live_ than it had been at Joe's, what with his 'daily inspections' to make sure Iris and I weren't living like slobs. Something Iris had also adopted, and something I had not.

For a one bedroom apartment, it was actually rather large. My full size bed was in one corner of the room, while a large table, well-worn and with a glued on leg, sat in the center, last seen covered in a mound of paperwork, noodle cups, and odd articles of clothing a foot deep. A small partition separated the cooking space from the living area. It didn't quite qualify as a _real_ kitchen because it only had a two-burner range and an oven, which drove Iris absolutely spare when she tried to cook with me on her visits. The fridge was, quite possibly, an artifact from the previous renter's ancestors, and I was almost positive that the green, furry growth in the vegetable crisper predated the building. The small bathroom was the most luxurious part of the entire apartment, a bit larger than my bed, with a large bathtub that had a fairly regular supply of hot water.

There were small knick knacks that were spread throughout the apartment. Beside my bed, there was a bookshelf with a few scattered thesis books, some science fiction novels, an iPod with tangled headphones attached, and three different books covered in layers of dust. One of these included a 'Cleaning for Dummies' book that Iris had gotten me as a (serious) joke. There was also a small calendar that was still on it's last used month that had 'Particle Accelerator Turning On!" circled twice. A few pictures of Iris, Joe, my mom and dad were framed and deposited in odd corners, and a collage of the selfies I took with Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells was taped to the fridge.

I had a small desk against the partition to the kitchen where I regularly sat with my laptop, with a few speakers hooked up around the far corners. Also on the desk, there were a few half-empty bottles of nail polish, some nail clippers, and the autobiography of Dr. Wells sitting by it's lonesome on the other side of the desk.

Among the other odds and ends in my apartment were lab supplies, which took up the small stand in the corner next to my door, my closet full of t-shirts, blouses, shorts, skinny jeans, and a few spare outfits that didn't quite fit me anymore since my body got more muscled and defined from the lightning bolt, and my sparse amount of dresses. Also, most noticeably at the moment, a high-pitched, constantly ringing alarm clock.

I cursed, and found that the sound was muffled. I blearily cracked open my eyes, and using all of my willpower and restraint, resisted bashing the infernal, hell born device with my fist.

My mind registered that it didn't feel like my usually fluffy bed. I looked around, and realized I wasn't even on my bed. Instead of being softly caressed by the boundless comfort of my well-worn, patch covered mattress, I was laying off to the side of it, wrapped in my old sleeping bag and the top of a bed roll that I had for emergencies. The fact that the old, analog alarm that Joe had gotten me as a gag gift (so I wouldn't be late) was still ringing seemed like a secondary consideration to the fact that I had finally glanced around.

It didn't look like my home.

I stumbled up, only getting caught in the bag three times before gaining enough feeling in my fingers to unzip it enough for me to roll out. I swayed uneasily on the floor, half expecting it to sweep out under me. I ran into the alarm clock with one foot, 'accidentally' flinging it into the wall. It rang a few more times, persistent to the end, before trailing off in the middle of one, as if it finally got the point.

Part of me glanced towards the bed, and I felt nothing short of absolute longing to got there and fall back asleep. The other part of me, the part that usually kept me alive in dire situations, noticed that the bed was _made._ I saw the edges of sheets long since missing in the Great Crack Beyond the Mattress peaking out of the comforter that was smoothly spread over the top of the bed. Incredulous, I stumbled over, swearing twice as my toes got caught on the flat, level ground. That alone gave me pause, because the accumulated mess that had served as carpet for me for the years that I'd lived here was at points, level, but it was never smooth.

I glanced down, and were it not for the fact that my jaw felt like it'd been soldered on, I might've screamed. As it was, the attempt came out as "Grmmngh." I leaned against the edge of the bed, astonishment slowly pumping enough adrenaline into my system to allow my eyes to finally open fully.

I had hard wood floors.

I found myself frozen completely for a moment, my eyes only seeming to focus on the unnatural gleam and sparkle of the yellow wood. I glanced up just an inch, but an inch was more than I needed for my eyes to focus on the strange, alien-looking table in the center of my apartment.

It was dark brown, and it seemed to _audibly_ shine. It had the same eerie sheen as a knife or a bullet when they were coming straight at me. It wasn't ever a good sign. Gone was the foot deep, familiar mound. Instead, there were straight, orderly piles of papers, envelopes, and, as my feet subconsciously drew me closer, I saw a basket of fruit.

Everything was clean.

I was _clearly_ in the wrong house. Then again, I reasoned, that was my table, and those had been my pattern of sheets on the bed. It was my apartment, but it was _clean._ It had to be an alternate dimension. Any moment now, it would turn out that I was the only hero left in Central City, because the rest of the people I knew were pirates in this dimension. Somehow, the idea of Joe wearing an eye patch, a high collared jacket, with a rapier at his side seemed to fit way too easily. The rest of the scene came together easily. Iris might have pretended to be a boy, except that everyone saw her feminine features and, being the pirate captains daughter, just humored her. Captain Harrison Wells and his small crew of Cisco and Caitlin would be their rivals, fighting each other over wanting to recruit me to run away with them to go pirating.

"But how can I be a pirate?" I found my mouth mumbling while my mind strained to catch up, "I have two legs and I don't have a parrot."

"That," came a female voice, and I jolted to a fully conscious state immediately in response to it, "was quite possibly the strangest thing I've ever heard someone say, even when considering that you're only now getting awake." I turned and saw Caitlin snicker behind the back of her hand as she stepped out from behind the kitchen partition.

What was Caitlin doing here?

She was wearing a plain blue dress with a white apron over it. I was _sure_ I'd seen that apron somewhere before. A few stunned seconds later, I realized that I'd been using it as a curtain for the minuscule window in the kitchen.

Oh. Last night Cisco had called me after dinner with Joe and Iris and asked if Caitlin could stay with me for a night or two since her place was currently being flooded. I remember immediately agreeing to help the older woman. To be honest, I thought I had dreamed that whole thing up.

"It wasn't a dream?" I managed, tongue fumbling and teeth doing nothing but getting in the way. It felt like I'd been asleep for years, and that still didn't seem to be enough.

"No, Berry, I'm pretty sure that it _was_ a dream. There aren't any pirates around here." She shook her head with a teasing smile.

"No, I mean..." I started, but decided to let it go with a smile.

Finally awake, I glanced around, trying to figure out what else was different around the apartment. The desk was now free of nail accessories, my laptop and favorite book being the only things left sitting there. My bookshelf was dusted, and apparently was originally blue, which was surprising. The curtains even looked different - they really _were_ yellow, and not just from the dust. The windows sparkled, the floor shimmered, and there was a sweet, lingering smell I couldn't immediately name in the air. Normally, I tried to completely ignore my sense of smell and taste when in my apartment. "It's clean," I murmured, and Caitlin behind me let out an annoyed sound. I glanced towards her. "What time is it?"

Caitlin raised an eyebrow in surprise. "It's six."

My eyebrows shot up in panic. "Six?! I slept all _day?"_ I whimpered, and oh God, Captain Singh said that if I miss one more day of work-

"No, no! It's six _A.M._ " she corrected.

I paused and looked towards my window, and noticed that the sky was still dark outside. "You mean," my lips tried to mouth the unfamiliar sentence, "I'm up before _sunrise?_ "

The older woman blinked. "Well, yes, you work this morning, right?" Yeah, at _ten._

I nodded, and she continued. "Well, I noticed that you hadn't really set your alarm before you crashed on your bed roll, so I figured I'd help you out." She then sent me a bland look. "I also was how I could repay you for letting me stay here while they fix my building's issues, but then I came here, and saw... _this."_ she finished with a look of disgust at my apartment, perhaps remembering.

I bowed my head in embarrassment. I knew I should have just speed cleaned as best I could before she even walked through the door. I was just so tired last night that I didn't care. Yesterday's me fucking sucks. "Eh, yeah, well I'm sorry about that." I looked around. "It looks better now. I mean, I kinda miss the way the carpet used to crunch when you walked on in..." Caitlin made a noise of disapproval. "...but I guess it'll be nice to walk around barefoot." I finished quickly, glancing up to watch Caitlin's eyes. At that moment, she somehow looked needy, as if she were starved for affection.

"I really don't know how you did this." I paused. "You _did_ sleep last night and all, right? Also, what's that smell?"

Caitlin's disapproving frown turned into a wry laugh. "Yes, I slept. I just wake up rather early. I used to spend a lot of mornings cleaning up after my fiance, so it was almost nostalgic. The smell," she looked a little sheepish, "is breakfast. I wasn't sure what you liked, so I made a few different things. I actually got to go check on it real quick. It's probably ready by now."

Before I could even open my mouth, she shifted awkwardly, and I hadn't even realized that we'd seated ourselves across from each other and the eerily clean kitchen table until she moved away from it. I saw, with no small amount of shock, that she'd somehow rigged what looked to be an actual curtain as a partition between the kitchen and my living area. I looked around again, trying to figure out not so much my surroundings, but what would come of them.

It wasn't that the clean was unwelcome. Hell, I hadn't been lying when I said that I could walk barefoot now and not expect to be stabbed by pens, food items, and long forgotten layers of crusty clothes so old that they actually resented me. The fact that my apartment didn't smell like it could be used as a harmful inhalant to deter pests was a new, exciting concept that most of my senses completely celebrated.

What was making me tense was the fact that Caitlin's _act_ of cleaning meant something, and I wasn't sure what it was. She said that she used to pick up after Ronnie, and I'm pretty sure Joe said that he used to do the same for Iris' mother. I figured that people who spent a good portion of their life tending their own houses couldn't take more than two steps into mine without feeling the almost hypnotic compulsion to scrub it spotless and kill all invaders.

I glanced around at the clean table, at the desk, the closet door that could _shut,_ the glistening windows and the organized bookshelf. In less than eight hours, as she had obviously slept a bit less than I had, being awake before me, she had scrubbed, peeled, hammered, and chiseled away all the dirt and grime I'd come to live with. In top of that, she was in the kitchen, making breakfast.

I could live like this. The problem was that I didn't want to.

I didn't know how it felt to loose a long time lover. Hell, I've never really had a long term boyfriend in general. I had no idea if Caitlin truly did all of this work to just repay me for lending her a place to sleep for a night or two, or if she was projecting her grief over Ronnie onto me in some way. I had a feeling that it wasn't normal to do as much work as Caitlin did in a single night just to say 'thanks'. I didn't want her to think that I was taking advantage of her and using her to be my temporary maid.

"Here," Caitlin interrupted, and I blinked as she set a mug of something steaming in front of me, "you look to still be half-asleep." There was a small smile on her face, but I saw that her eyes looked almost red. I wondered in she had been crying in the kitchen, and wondered further at how in the world I had missed it. I frown, teeth biting down on my lip absently.

"You didn't need to do that," I began, and Caitlin waved her hands in front of her.

"No, no! I wanted to." She glanced around, and I really didn't know what she was looking for. Then, I realized that it wasn't what she was looking _for,_ but what she was looking away from. _Me._

My hands reached for the mug in front of me reflexively, because I knew that if I didn't have anything in them they would clench. In one swift motion, I gulped down half the mug of the strange, pungent drink.

I quickly regretted it.

"It's an old recipe that Ronnie taught me. It's a very unique blend of coffee." She began, and I could tell that she was resisting laughter. I couldn't tell if that was nice of her, or very mean-spirited. "It's all his family will drink, and after a while, I got so used to it that it stopped tasting out there to me." My cheeks puffed out as I contemplated spitting the foul, evil liquid back into the mug. I took one more look at Caitlin's almost vulnerable expression, and swallowed. At once, my eyelids shot open of their own accord. I felt like someone kicked me in the gut, and despite myself, I sat up straighter.

"What the hell was in that?" I asked, and wondered if my eyelids were ever going to close, and tried to figure out if my hand was shaking, or if my foot was vibrating the table.

"Ah, that's a secret." Her smile could've been called evil by some, but at that moment, I felt nothing but awe for her. I chugged the rest of the mug. "I usually drink it when I really half trouble waking myself up in the morning, and I needed to brew up half a pot just to get myself out the door this morning to shop."

I frowned. "Wait, shopping? I didn't have any coffee last night, and I don't have anything to make breakfast with either..." My head shot up, and I glared at her accusingly. "You spent money on me, didn't you? You didn't have to do th-"

"No," she interrupted, holding up a hand to forestall my speech. "I really did have to. Last night, you bought me dinner, and letting me stay here saved me the cost of a hotel room." She looked at me. "I'll be right back with breakfast." Caitlin then stood up, striding out to the kitchen with long steps. I looked back to the table top in contemplation.

I had only bought her some Big Belly Burger last night, something cheap and fast.

"Eat," Caitlin ordered, and I followed the clang of plates being set down on the table. Plates, as in plural. Plural plates loaded with food. My eyes widened in shock as I realized that it might be more than even _I_ could eat.

The older woman began pointing out dishes as she loaded my plate with mounds of each individual delicacy. There was a huge pyramid of thick sausages, a mountain of hash browns, a plate stacked high with pancakes (in blueberry, banana, _and_ chocolate chip), an endless supply of bacon, enough eggs to last me the rest of my life, cooked in grease in what Caitlin called "dippy style", and a small serving of what Caitlin called 'scrapple', which was made of indeterminable ingredients but smelled fantastic. She sat out a huge bottle of syrup, another pot of coffee, and a glass of orange juice in less time that it took me to wake up on a normal day.

She watched me, and I didn't know why until I realized that my hands weren't moving. "Damn! I mean, thank you for the food!" With that, I sat to work. The eggs were covered in salt and pepper, and tasted fantastic. Caitlin dowsed the scrapple (which I internally dubbed "meat stuff") into syrup and proved that God _did_ exist, and his sole contribution to my life was scrapple, a fact that I was completely okay with. I worked my way through the perfectly juicy sausages, lingered lovingly on the pancakes, and realized somewhere between the fourth egg and the third jam-covered english muffin that I couldn't get up.

I could swear that Caitlin was smirking as she gathered up the plates. "That," I paused, and leaned back in my chair, feeling for once completely, utterly full to the point of discomfort, "was the most amazing meal I've ever had. Seriously," I protested at her snort, "it was even better than Joe's. You can't ever tell him I said that, though!" Despite myself, I stood, groaning as my stomach felt like lead. I stretched my joints, cracked my neck, and gathered a large armful of plates, trying to figure out if I could just roll myself to the kitchen instead of walking the whole way. "So, where did you learn to cook like that?"

I leaned forward, trying to concentrate on balancing the dishes and walk at the same time. It was difficult, because most of my attention was making sure I didn't run into Caitlin. "Ronnie's mother, actually."

"Oh, was your mom not a good cook or something?" I'd realized I grabbed onto the wrong topic the second I saw Caitlin's face turn to stone. All at once the air seemed to escape her, and the smile she had on her face was replaced by one of utter pain. "Shit, okay, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories. Really, you don't need to talk about it..."

She walked to the kitchen, and I followed her. "It's not your fault, Berry. You couldn't have known. Maybe one day, I'll talk to you about." She sat her load of dishes into a sink I only barely recognized as mine (the last time I'd actually seen the bottom of my sink had been shortly after I'd moved in). She turned around, and seemed pleasantly surprised that I had brought dishes as well, but cleared way for me to set my dishes down, before turning on the faucet and squirting strange smelling liquid I saw was dish soap in with the steaming water.

"Will you help me dry these when I'm done with them?" She glanced at the wall behind the sink instead of me. "I wasn't sure where to put them, either. Where do you normally keep your dishes?"

"The sink." She shot me a look, one eyebrow cocked. I shrugged. "What? I'm just being honest."

"Honesty." She stated. I waited, and she didn't seem to want to finish her thought. Instead, she furiously scrubbed at one of my plates, attacking left over gobs of syrup with the intent to kill. When she handed me the first completely spotless, almost boiling hot plate, I didn't know where to put it. Finally, I shrugged and hopped up onto a clear spot on the counter and stood tall as I fought the highest cupboard's door open. From my angle, I could see a pack of crackers and two granola bars that were probably older than I was, half devoured by a caccoon of spider webs.

"Hey, could you spare a rag?" I glanced down, and saw Caitlin staring at me, and pointedly looked from my bare feet and back to my eyes again. "Oh, right. Hey, I'll wipe down the counter later, okay?" She mutely shook her head, and walked to one side, retrieving a cloth that she reached up to pass to me. "Thanks." I bunched up the crackers and the bar, reached the back corners with ease, and tossed the whole mess into the trashcan, with was only fifteen feet away and hidden in a corner. Good thing about having super speed, is that it actually kind of see things so slow that it increased my accuracy a bit.

Caitlin made quick work of the dishes, while I found myself struggling to find places to put dishes I had no idea I owned. I vaguely remembered having a gravy boat serving as a planter somewhere, while I had no clue how I got five different sizes of bowls, or where to put them. After passing the last few sopping dishes up to me, Caitlin untied her apron and hung it on a row of small hooks I swore I never saw before. I leaped down from the counter.

Suddenly I was at a loss of what to do. I still had _hours_ before I had to go to work, and for a speedster, that felt like years. "So,"I started as I followed Caitlin over to my living room. "What time were you heading to STAR Labs?"

"Here soon, actually. But before I go, I was going to sit and watch the morning news and call my apartment manager to see where they're at with the repairs." She gave me a small smile and sat down at my small couch.

I shrugged. "Okay. I'm going to jump into the shower. I swear that I can _still_ feel dust and webbing on me from SLAP." I said, causing Caitlin to shudder and look at me sympathetically. I headed into my bathroom, and couldn't help but smile and shake my head at seeing freshly washed towels already sitting by the sink.

I'd barely gotten out of the shower when Caitlin came up to me with a smile and a brush, and offered to do my hair. Had I'd known that the hair brush counted as an Official Tool of Berry Torture, I might've thought about refusing. As a result, my hair was sleek, shiny, and styled to spike up so much that I thought I'd impale my fingers on them if I ran them through, an act I couldn't help doing.

When it was finally time to head to work, I quickly changed into a pair of red skinny jeans and a black threadbare tank top with my leather jacket thrown over it before speeding out, grabbing the fruit basket that Caitlin had generously gotten me and bid her farewell.

 **8888**

I sat in my lab, and once I had gotten to work, I managed to finish two DNA reports before immediately distracting myself from the rest of the stack with Dr. Wells personal journal. I didn't really have a chance to read through the entire thing yesterday, but now that I had the time, I read through it slowly, savoring every little peek into Dr. Wells' mind and soul that were scrawled onto the pages.

The genius was truly that. A genius. There was a lot of stuff that I didn't completely understand, but resolved to research it later. The things I _did_ understand, were truly remarkable and breathtakingly ingenius. What was even better that the mathematics and science, was his own personal little rants on different employees, fellow scientists in his field, some competition, and other subjects.

I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine and my head quickly shot up in alarm. I looked around, and when I didn't see anything threatening, I tilted my head towards the door and listened carefully.

"...yes, I think she's up there working on some cases, I'm sure she'd _love_ to show you how...yeah, let's head up, Kent..." My eyes widened in horror as I caught enough of Eddie's sentences to know that I needed to _leave right now._

Guess I'm taking my lunch break an hour early.

I tucked my book under my arm, grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair, took an orange from the fruit basket, and sped into the corner of the room behind the lockers just as the two men walked in. They stepped forward into the room and looked around in confusion.

"Huh, I could of sworn that Joe said she was up here..." As soon as they approached my desk, I ran through the door and was out of the building before they even registered the gust of wind that ruffled my papers.

 **8888**

I bit into the orange, teeth squirting juices maliciously close to my eye. I peeled back the rind, scraping off the white. The flesh of the orange was bitter, with just a taste of sweet that faded into something foul the longer you dwell on it. I washed it down with milk I'd grabbed from the vending machine earlier, and found that the two flavors clashed horribly. With a grimace, I threw both away into a nearby trashcan before entering the library.

The reception part of the library was rather tiny, no bigger than a public restroom. There were a total of two chairs to sit it, both occupied by two elderly men who might've been around since the building was built. As I entered, the two men gave me weighty glares. For an instant, I felt their eyes sink straight through me and feared that they might have witnessed me accidentally knocking over a stack of unsorted books taller than me the last time I was here, shortly after I discovered my new speed. An instant later that was gone, replaced instead by a feeling of utter confusion as the two old men turned to each other with identical snarls on their lips.

"Look at those clothes!" The two men looked identical to each other save for a few more tufts on the head of one on the right, a few more tufts in the ears on the one on the left. They wore both wearing waistcoats and checkered trousers, and I wondered if they realized what era they were in. I was answered moments later when their banter continued.

"Simply despicable!" one old man coughed, slamming his cane against the floor.

"I agree! It's ridiculous that women cut their hair _short_." the other crowed, also slamming his cane onto the floor.

"The nerve!" The one on the left creaked, squinting at me again. "Can't believe youngsters wear bright red trousers now! And on a Saturday, no less!" I had to force myself not to trip. I wondered what that had to do with anything, but quickly came to the conclusion that the whole scenario playing out before me made no sense. It seemed so surreal somehow that I briefly worried that I had been drugged again.

"You old coot!" the one on the right barked, whipping around to the slightly balder old man with a startling speedster like pace. "It's Monday! Any fool can tell that!"

"'Old coot'?" I swore I saw a cloud of dust when the living, breathing fossil hunched forwards in his chair, his shoulders shaking until the trembling passed to his whole body. I thought fleetingly about where the nearest hospitals were when the frail man let out a high pitched whine. "How DARE you talk to your father like that! Your mother would roll in her grave!"

The other old man shook his identical can at his father, before surrendering the effort and resorting to thumping it on the floor for effect and as punctuation. "Mother's not dead yet, you senile geezer!"

"Lazy upstart! Your grandchildren would be ashamed of you!" With this, I backed very cautiously away until their voices faded slightly. I rolled my eyes and quickly turned into my favorite section and tried to find a nice, secluded corner to sit and read my book.

I was barely through four pages when my cellphone started vibrating in my pocket. I rolled my eyes in defeat and set the journal down in my lap with a sigh. I dug my phone out of my jacket pocket and saw that it was Cisco. It was only a matter of time.

"Hey, Cisco, what's up?"

"Hey, Berry we have another bank heist at E. 213 wayside!" Cisco chirped from his end.

"Alright I'm on it." I said as I pushed myself up from the floor, and marked my place in my book before I forgot.

"Oh, and _do_ try not to get stuck with any needles this time, yeah?" he teased, drawing out a groan from me. "Yeah, let's not jinx me, okay?" I replied dryly. "I'm not for a repeat of that either."

With another sigh of dismay, I sent one more glance of longing at my corner of solitude before speeding out of the library, gusts of wind leaving the old men sputtering behind me.

 **8888**

Thankfully, this bank robbery wasn't nearly as eventful as the last one, but I was still late to return to work from my lunch break since I had to stop three more crimes while out as the Streak. My luck was finally starting to look up, as I didn't see any trace of Eddie or Kent, thankfully. I only had about two hours left of my work day when Iris walked into my lab with a smile and a wave.

I waved back with a grin. "Hey, sis. What's up?"

Not much, Dad and I were wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner again tonight. We figure it's better than a microwave dinner or fast food." she teased and gave me light punch in the arm. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, sure," then I remembered that Caitlin was still currently being housed at my place. "oh, um, would it be okay if I invited Caitlin? She's staying with me for a bit, and I don't want to trouble her with dinner again."

Iris raised her eyebrows and slowly nodded. "Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem. If you want, we could meet Dad at your place and we can all go to the house together. I feel like I should give the poor woman a hug for having to board up in _your_ place." She said and shook her head in amusement. I sighed and rolled my eyes at her again, and couldn't stop a small smirk from forming. We'll see whose laughing later.

 **8888**

We finally arrived at my apartment and I wasted no time in unlocking the door and making my way inside, anxious to be home after a long day. My foster family followed behind me slowly, probably expecting to have to watch their step so they didn't trip or step in something questionable.

There was immediately a West family pile up in the doorway.

What I saw was the same spotless, glistening floor as when I left, the same tidy bed as when I woke up, and the same clean, sparkling table. Caitlin sat at one corner of the table, curled up comfortably on my couch, sipping a glass of water.

What my _family_ saw had to be different, because Joe's eye began twitching, and Iris' jaw dropped. Iris was the first one to shuffle out of the doorway, while Joe forgot to duck and slammed his forehead against the doorway.

I couldn't stop the snicker at the sight.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow and I joined her on the couch, flopping down onto the soft cushion with a tired sigh. Joe slowly sat down in the recliner opposite us and Iris sat down next to me, her head twisting and turning as she took in what she _thought_ was my apartment.

"So," I began, and Iris flicked her eyes towards me, finally. Joe kept glancing around my home, eyes darting to the white, stainless ceiling now free of stray, stuck on pasta noodles and the odd, over achieving fork, then to the closet that shut for the first time, and the then to the kitchen that, for the first time, didn't smell as if it belonged in a slaughterhouse. If I didn't know any better, I would've said that the man was completely and utterly dumbstruck. It was eerily similar to when he saw me unravel Mardon's tornado.

"Like I was saying earlier, Caitlin's staying for a bit until she can go back home, and sometime last night, or maybe early this morning...? She decided to repay me by cleaning up a bit."

Joe twitched in his seat, and Iris seemed torn between screaming and crying. I braced myself for a mixture of both.

I had to calm myself, and with a show of indifference that defied every throbbing 'danger' nerve in my body showed that I was an even better actor than I was aware of, and shrugged. "Yeah, it was kind of a surprise for me, too, but-"

" _Kind of?"_ Joe bellowed. Immediately, there was a cacophony of thumps, shouts, and bangs from the floors below and beside the apartment, ranging in threats from "I'll call the landlord!" to "They'll never find your body!".

My mouth closed in the middle of a word I didn't realize I was saying, and I forced myself to calm. "Look, I know this is a shock to you guys." Iris shot me a disbelieving stare. I pouted at her.

I glanced up quickly and found that it was actually Joe growling, not an entire pack of wolves. "Berry, please explain to me, why you would let Caitlin clean this... _this_ all by herself?!"

His shout gained another chorus of threats, this time escalating into "Walls won't stop my wrath!" and "Aren't geeks supposed to be _QUIET?"._

I glanced to the walls, then back at Joe. "Uh, maybe stop yelling at me, Joe? And it's not like I asked her to, I just woke up and it was already over."

Joe let out an explosive sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose in what looked like defeat. Iris snickered before turning an amazed gaze onto Caitlin. "Well, whatever the reason, you have my respect, girl. You might also be the bravest person I know."

Caitlin looked torn between bashful and flattered. "Thank you, it really isn't that big of a deal, I felt like it was a kind thing to do for Berry letting me stay here. Oh! That reminds me," She then turned to me. "Berry, I was talking with Cisco earlier and we were wondering if you and Iris wanted to join us tomorrow night at one of our favorite clubs? Some drinks, dancing, and maybe darts and pool?"

I paused for a moment, thinking it over. On the one hand, a night out drinking did sound really good, especially for more bonding time with my new friends. On the _other,_ I wasn't really sure I was ready to get drunk just yet-

"Of course! That sound fun! We haven't had a night out since you woke up, sis, let's do it." Or, Iris will answer for me.

I sighed and playfully swatted at her. "Well, I guess that's a yes then," I giggled. "Will Dr. Wells be joining us, Caitlin?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could.

My hands clenched into fist when I could practically _feel_ Joe and Iris' eyes burning holes into my very soul as Caitlin gave me a dubious look. "Oh, I don't know, Berry...he's still not very outgoing since the accident. I'll ask him tomorrow though."

I nodded and didn't get my hopes up, just in case. I rolled my eyes when Joe started up _again_ about my apartment, and also resigned myself to this for the rest of the night.

It really _was_ nice to breathe and move freely without being careful, though.

 **8888**

 **I'M SORRY FOR THE WAIT. Life has been happening, also, I really didn't expect so many people liking my fics, so I've been taking even extra long working on my new chapters so I don't disappoint you guys!**

 **I'm still working on my Pokemon and Ajin fics, AND I'm trying to write up some more of my Charles x Raven Shuffle fic since the great and awesome BundyShoes is following it! Not gonna lie, that's kinda wild. So that's happening.**

 **I also am playing through the new Zelda game and finishing some paintings on my deviantart page because I commission from time to time for extra money, cuz my day job doesn't buy me nice things.**

 **So there's that. Excuses, excuses, I know, but that's whats up.**

 **Thanks for reading! I'll try to be faster with the next chapter!**


	7. Plastique

***Posts this and sprints away***

 **8888**

I sat at the bar and just took a moment to watch my friends have fun.

In the end, I couldn't talk Dr. Wells into joining us in our night out. Caitlin, Cisco and I had yet to leave STAR Labs so I tried to subtly beg him to join us.

I even gave him the famous puppy eyes, but he wouldn't be swayed. In fact, I'm pretty sure he gave me his own version to counter me, like an insanely erotic fusion of adorable puppy eyes and a bedroom smolder.

I don't even remember what I said after getting that directed at me. All I heard was, "Please, Berenice, I really don't feel up to being glared at by every single person tonight, I'd like to just have a night to myself. How about you have enough fun for the both of us?" He'd asked, and then BAM. Smolder-Puppy eyes. Puppy-Smolder? _The worlds most dangerous look_ and I was gone, lost in beautiful blue. I must of said something affirmative, because he then thanked me with a small smile and a pat on my arm before rolling away.

Looking back on it, I'm just glad I didn't light up the room blushing again. Well, at least not as bad as I would have before. I think I'm _finally_ starting to kick the damn blushing schoolgirl reaction whenever anything happens with the man.

It's been _long_ overdue.

Cisco, Caitlin and Iris were playing a game of darts and I was still trying to feel all the alcohol I already drank when Eddie and _fucking Kent_ walked in, drawing squeals from both Iris and me, but for completely different reasons.

"You made it!" Iris cried happily, letting out a giggle when Eddie lifted her up in a hug. Kent was looking around, (for me, I realized with horror) and caught sight of Caitlin and Cisco. I couldn't help but sigh with relief when he headed over to them, and sent a silent plea that they wouldn't throw me under the bus by pointing me out.

"I'm glad you invited Caitlin and Cisco." Iris interrupted my inner prayers when she came over to join me. I turned my gaze to her and smiled at best I could, my eyes darting back to the trio. I noticed Cisco with a big dumb grin and he started to raise his arm in my direction before Caitlin grabbed it and looked to be engaging Kent in a conversation. Bless her.

"They're cool, right?" I said with a grin, focusing on my sister again.

"They saved your _life,_ Berry. That makes them the coolest people I've ever met." She said softly. "I'm glad you guy became friends."

"Me too," I agreed, and clinked shot glasses with her before downing my drink.

Iris scrunched her face as she swallowed the tequila. "Ooh, I'm up." She said with a grin headed off to join Eddie at the dart board.

I shook my head at her fondly, knowing the kind of trash talk Eddie was about to have thrown at him, before my vision was filled with Kent.

"Lady Berry!" he exclaimed happily.

I couldn't help but flinch back and stare up at him with wide eyes. Oh no...

"H-hey Kent..." I tried to greet, but it came out cracked and forced. Being the Fanboy that he was, he didn't notice.

"I'm glad you could make it tonight!" He continued, practically gushing.

I smiled weakly. "Yeah, me too...and please, it's _just_ Berry. I don't need the 'lady' part attached..."

"But, I couldn't possibly feel comfortable just calling you that when I feel like I hardly know you..." he said with a frown, before grinning real smooth.

Huh, if he wasn't so goddamn creepy, I probably would have thought he was cute with a smile like that.

Too bad I knew that when Kent smiled like the cat who got the canary, it didn't bode well with me.

"I'd feel a lot more, well _more..."_ he said with a softer voice and started to inch towards me, and being the idiot that I was, just sat there, staring like a deer in headlights. "...if we were to spend more time together, alone..."

Nope.

"Oh!" I exclaimed suddenly, causing him to jump in surprise. "I see Caitlin waving me over, I think she needs me for something. Gee, Kent, is there anyway you could get me another drink?" I asked in a too-high-pitched voice and jumped off my stool to speed walk away, not giving him a chance to respond.

I think I heard him trying to ask what I was drinking to begin with, but I had an ulterior motive to wanting to talk to my new friends, not just to escape.

I should be feeling pretty fucking buzzed by now, and previous embarrassment aside, I was ready to get wasted tonight.

"Guys? I have a problem." I stated as I came to their table by the tray of shot glasses.

"So do I, when guys like him exist." Cisco said glumly, staring at Eddie. "It's guys like him that make getting chicks harder for the rest of us..."

I rolled my eyes. " _Anyway,_ I'm not talking about Eddie-"

Caitlin cut me off, "I mean, he _is_ really hot. Uh, I mean genetically, you know, because I'm a gene-"

"Guys!" I said a little louder, gaining their attention. "I'm not talking about Eddie, I'm talking about this."

I drank every shot on the tray in less than two seconds and raised my eyebrows at Caitlin pointedly. "I can't feel anything!"

She blinked in confusion while Cisco replied jokingly, "Yeah, that's what happens when you drink too much."

" _No,_ I mean the alcohol isn't affecting me! I literally feel nothing!" I whined, feeling cheated.

Suddenly Caitlin's eyes lit up with understanding. "Oh! It's your hypermetabolism! I need a sample," she stated, and started rummaging around in her purse.

"I'll get more shots." Cisco ran off to the bar, leaving me to stare at the older girl in disbelief, although I really shouldn't be surprised at this point.

"I swear I had a vacutainer in here..." she muttered.

"You carry a blood sampling kit with you everywhere?"

She looked up and gave me a bland look. "Hey, you have your hobbies."

Suddenly I had horrifying visions of just what my adoptive family could have said about me and my...hobbies... "What to you mean by that? I don't have any weird hobbies, what did Iris say?!" Oh God, what if Dr. Wells heard too?!

"What-" She started to ask, before I cut her off.

"It was only a couple of pictures I swear! _Everyone does it!_ " I pleaded, begging Caitlin with my eyes to not judge me, everyone internet stalks their celebrity crush nowadays!

Caitlin stared at me completely befuddled. "Berry, what on Earth are you talking-"

She got cut off again, this time by the return of Cisco and...ugh, Kent. "Have no fear, ladies, we bring more drinks with us." He chirped, returning to his earlier spot, Kent coming to pull of a stool on my other side.

Sigh.

Why couldn't I choose to turn this damn metabolism off when I wanted? I needed to get wasted, dammit.

 **8888**

After another ten minutes of drinks, or should I say, another ten minutes of _torture_ that alcohol couldn't save me from, I was seriously one more 'Lady Berry' or one more snicker from Cisco from just bashing my head against the table with enough speed to hopefully kill me.

It was either that or I lose my carefully built up control of my anger and punch _Kent_ with enough speed to maybe kill _him._

The dark thought alone had my heart pounding, bringing back memories of worried and stern interventions from both Joe and my dad back when I was younger. Back when I had a dark outlook of the world and nearly everyone in it, and just loved to pick a fight, or cut people with words. Just so they could hurt or be afraid.

It was a part of me that really never ceased to scare me, especially now that I could really kill someone if I tried with my powers.

But damn, was Kent really pushing me. I didn't truly want to really hurt him, since he was kind of Eddie's friend, but there was only so much of this that I could take...

Speaking of Eddie, he and Iris finally finished their game and came over to join us.

"All right, Allen, you're up." He said with a grin, patting Kent of the shoulder. "How about you and Kent play a game, huh?"

This fucker. I knocked back another shot, inwardly lamenting that my drinking days were over at twenty-four.

Suddenly someones cell phone starting going off.

Eddie pulled out his phone and checked his message with a concerned frown. "There was a bombing on 8th and Pass..."

My ears pricked at that and my eyes snapped to Cisco and Caitlin.

"I gotta go baby, sorry." I heard him say to my sister, and I tried to communicate with my new friends silently so Kent wouldn't catch on, since his eyes were still bouncing back to me every couple seconds.

"I actually have an early shift at Jitters tomorrow," Iris said with an apologetic smile, and grabbed her coat off the back of a chair.

I nodded and quickly jumped up, spitting out excuses to leave. Kent tried to go in for a 'friendly' hug, but I quickly dodged him, just so happening to miss seeing him so that I could hug Iris goodbye.

I barely ran out of the pub at a normal speed, and instantly ran a couple hundred MPH faster once I was out of sight in an alley.

I stopped by the Cortex to change into my suit and quickly sped towards the bombing sight, weaving through traffic until I came to a stop in another alley near 8th and Pass.

I then I heard it. Someone calling for help, sounding from high above me.

Shit.

I looked up and paled a bit seeing a man hanging on for dear life, suspended in the air.

Shit! My hand flew to my comm. "Guys, there's a window washer and he's gonna fall!" Maybe I could catch him...?

As if reading my mind, Cisco answered, "Don't try to catch him, you don't have super strength Berry."

"Well, is there, like, a bed store nearby?" I asked, hoping that enough mattresses could soften the fall. "I could get a bunch of mattresses and-"

"Berry, this isn't a Road Runner cartoon," Caitlin cut me off, and before I could say anything else, " _or_ a Disney movie!"

I sighed in frustration. "Then what do I do?!" I asked, looking up when I heard the man screaming for help again. Then my eyes flashed over the length of the building before getting an idea. Even if the mattress idea wouldn't work, I _did_ have another idea that happened in a super hero movie...

"How fast would I need to go to run up the side of a building?" I asked, already backing up for some more distance.

There was a pause. "How far up do you need to go?" Cisco asked slowly.

The wind died down a bit, I heard the man yell more clearly. "Help, somebody!"

"I don't know for sure, fifty meters I think."

I heard Cisco murmuring and let out a stressed hiss through clenched teeth when I saw the platform jerk a bit, like the cable holding the washer up was starting to give. "Guys, hurry!"

"Just run really fast and you'll be fine. But you need to maintain your velocity on the way down, or..."

I frowned when she trailed off, knowing by now that that meant it was something bad. "Or what?"

A beat passed, before I heard, "Splat."

Oh, goody.

"Ok, all right, I got this, ok, ok..." I chanted, trying to amp myself up for the run for a few seconds before taking off and up the building.

I ran, focused on getting to the man before the cable finally broke, glassing cracking under my feet the whole way. I grabbed the man just before he fell and did a quick turn back down, never losing speed. We beat the platform back down to the ground and I settled the older man to his feet gently.

After taking a second to make sure he was okay, I turned to leave before coming face to face with Iris.

Shit, fuck.

She was a few feet away from me, at the mouth of the alley looking at me with an awed look on her face.

Without any thought, I made my head vibrate, blurring my face. I knew that if she looked at me long enough, not only would she notice I'm female, but would recognize my face with enough time.

Thank God Dr. Wells and I came up with the idea in case something like this happened.

I couldn't help but grin at her, because of _course_ she was here, probably hoping for the Streak to show up. Classic Iris.

I raced by her and away from the crime scene.

 **8888**

Only to come back to the crime scene the next day for work.

"Berry?" Joe called out, and I looked up from where I was snapping pictures. "What you got?"

"Bombers tend to have their own unique signatures," I responded while getting up out of my crouch. "Crimped wires...fragmentation...the level of sophistication is telling once I've analyzed it...you show me a bomb and I can find a clue in it."

"I sense a 'but' coming..." Joe said wearily.

I nodded. "Yeah, I haven't found any trace of an oxidizing agent," I gestured frustrated at the spot that was the source of the explosion. "It's like the floor just blew itself up."

"But things don't just blow up..."

"The security guard says our bomber is a red-haired woman," Eddie announced as he walked up. "Must've cut the security camera's feed. There's no footage, but there might be something else..." He gestured for us to follow him. "Some kind of small charge blasted the doorknob off."

Behind the door was a massive room lined with filing cabinets. Great.

"Any idea what's missing?" Joe asked with growing dread.

Eddie gestured helplessly. "My guess is one of these files. It's going to take days to figure out which one."

Joe grimaced and shook his head. "Let's let Berry do her thing...she's pretty good at looking through lots of files and finding what she needs quickly now after SLAP. " He explained, seeing Eddie's curious look.

Joe nodded his head at me and headed out of the room, Eddie following him out after giving me a sympathetic look.

Closing the door behind them, I took a deep breath and got to work.

I didn't speed around like I wanted to, in case someone happened to glance through the windows, but my fingers moved through the files at a blur, searching for something that was supposed to be here but wasn't.

A few minutes later, I found it. A slight smile crossed my face as I took out the out-of-place file and headed out of the room to find Joe.

A little later, there was a soldier standing beside Joe as I stepped off the elevator. Curious by that and the strangely composed expression I've come to recognize as him suppressing irritation, I approached them, cradling the box of evidence in my arms.

"Joe?" I glanced between him and the solider. "What's going on?"

"General Eiling is relieving us from the bombing case." he said, gesturing to the solider beside him. "Give these men everything that's relevant." He gave me a look when he said 'relevant'.

Ah, understood. "Okay." I blinked between them and held the evidence box out to the solider.

He took it and began to walk away, in a blur of super speed, however, I snatched an evidence bag containing the papers left behind from the missing file from the box, hiding it out of sight. Joe glanced at the evidence bag concealed between them and then nodded.

"You and a few civilians at STAR Labs might want to look into that."

I smiled. "I think we might."

 **8888**

"A VA file number is all the info you have on the bomber?" Cisco asked.

"Unfortunately. CCPD has been ordered off the case." I said, pacing back and forth in the Cortex.

"Who has the power to do that?" Caitlin asked in confusion.

"The Army," I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. "Some General. His name was...Eiling, I think."

"General Wade Eiling," Dr. Wells said, the corner of his lip turning down in disdain as he rolled into the room.

"You know him?" I blinked at him in surprise.

"Yeah, I know him," he grimaced faintly. "About ten years ago, General Wade Eiling contacted STAR Labs to develop enhanced gene therapies for soldiers. I was interested in the potential medical benefits for civilians. But what General Eiling really wanted to develop was mind reading capabilities for interrogation purposes. I stopped the studies immediately when I saw his techniques up close, but our split was less than amicable."

"He just took all the evidence I collected on a bombing that happened last night. Everything," I paused and handed him the evidence with a small smirk, "everything but this folder."

"Well," Cisco said as he spun a bit in his chair, "Lucky for us the VA finally joined the new millennium and digitized their records..." he pulled up a file onto his monitor. "There's a lot of redacted info, but our girl is named Bette Sans Souci – an EOD specialist for the Army."

"EOD?" Caitlin echoed.

"Bomb," he clarified.

She nodded in understanding.

I glanced over at Cisco as I approached the suit, "Is there a last known address for her on file?"

"Hold on, let me check..." he peered at his monitor, clicking away. "Okay, there is one person listed for emergencies; Cameron Scott, Inglewood."

I nodded, "Good work, I'm heading there right now."

In a blur, I was suited up and gone, racing across Central City and towards Inglewood. There was a woman walking down the back alleyway that looked like the picture.

I came to a halt in front of her. "Bette Sans Souci?"

The bomber's eyes had widened in shock and she turned on her heel, bolting down the alleyway. I sighed in faint annoyance.

Really?

I blurred forward, cutting her off in a trail of gold lightning.

"I need you to come with me," I said, exasperated.

"Don't touch me, please!"

I tried not to roll my eyes and reached out and firmly took her arm. "I'm not going to hurt you but there's-"

Bette reached out and put a hand on the middle of my chest, right on my bolt emblem to push me away, then there was a strange purple radiating from where her hand was.

Her eyes went huge. "Oh God, I'm so sorry! Get whatever you're wearing off of you!"

I was equally as wide eyed, glancing from the purple on my suit to her frightened face. Her cry of "Hurry!" snapped me into action and I sped down the alleyway, away from Bette and the apartment building, stripping at high speeds.

It seemed like the second after I removed my suit, as I skidded to a halt in only my panties, the suit detonated in a firebomb.

One of my arms crossed over my chest automatically, the other holding my suddenly weary body in a crouch so I didn't face plant.

Holy shit I almost died...

I stood up on shaky legs and turned to see that Bette had run, leaving me alone.

My tired pants turned into slightly hysterical laughter, when I couldn't help but think of how pissed off Cisco was going to be about the suit.

Then my laughter cut off when I realized that I was practically naked in public. In broad daylight.

"Oh, fuck me."

I contemplated for a few moments if I should bother covering my tits while I ran, and deemed it pointless, since nobody was going to be seeing them while I moved at high speeds anyway and took off running towards S.T.A.R. Labs and change.

I've become intimately aware of where the spare clothes were kept, since this was my life now.

I entered the building and blurred through the hallway towards the Cortex, and cursed my luck when Dr. Wells happened to be going down the same hallway and going the same direction as me. His back was facing me, which was good, because I wasn't sure I could keep my focus if I accidentally looked at his face while trying to pass him in just panties.

I don't think I'll still have the will to live if I got distracted and crashed into a wall or trip over my feet in front of Harrison Wells, flashing _way_ more than I have so far. When he saw me half nude the other times I at least had a bra on.

I resisted the urge to hold my breath as I started to pass him in my slowed down perception of time, gold lightning crackling off my exposed skin. I fought like hell, but my eyes still flashed towards him as I came up even with him, and my heart skipped a beat when his blue eyes were already looking in my direction.

His eyes stared straight ahead, and from where he was sitting in his wheelchair, his line of sight was even with my chest.

My breath caught and my worst fear almost became a reality, I almost tripped and stubbed my bare toes on the even ground in shock before forcing my eyes forward again and running through the Cortex past the others to where the spare clothes were.

I hopped into some sweats and shook my head, a small smile appearing on my face.

For a minute there, I thought the universe truly damned me, and Dr. Wells actually saw me run past him. Well, he must of been starting to look over his shoulder, having heard me running up behind him but wasn't fast enough to truly _see_ until I was already past him. All he would have saw was gold lighting and _maybe_ my outline, but no true features.

I knew I shouldn't have glanced at him on the way here.

I finished putting on a t shirt and walked out to meet the confused stares of Cisco and Caitlin.

"Don't ask." I sighed, and just let my shoulders droop, feeling tired and hungry.

Cisco raised his eyebrows. "I am going to ask...where's my suit?"

"It's...gone." I answered hesitantly, trying not to wince. I knew how this was going to go...

"What do you mean it's gone?" he asked slowly, voice starting to rise. "What did you do to my suit?"

I raised my eyebrows and shrugged helplessly. "It blew up, dude. I'm sorry, there was nothing I could do. I managed to get out of it before it went...KABOOM."

"My suit...went 'Kaboom?" He asked, looking like I had just yawningly informed him that I was meeting Einstein and it was probably going to be dumb.

"Fun fact about Bette Sans Souci! She isn't carrying bombs, She touched the emblem on my suit and literally turned it _into_ a bomb." I took a breath. "She's a meta human."

"With the ability to cause spontaneous combustion upon tactile contact," Dr. Wells said while rolling into the Cortex. I was proud of myself when I kept eye contact with him without blushing. I gave him a small smile in greeting, which he returned.

"She blew up my suit." Cisco whined, turning to face the man.

I saw Caitlin roll her eyes. "You have like three more."

"Okay, I have two, and I loved _that_ one."

"Alright," I interjected, "what else do we know about her?"

"Oh I don't know, that she's pure evil!" Cisco wailed. He whirled back to his monitor with an aggravated sound. "We're going to find this girl and send her butt into the Pipeline." He fumed. "No one blows my tech to smithereens and gets away with it."

And then when Bette's face appeared on the monitor, Cisco went from furious to twitter pated in the flip of a switch. "...unless she looks like _that_."

Cisco sat down, staring at the picture open mouthed while I glanced over at Caitlin. "I don't think she meant to hurt me. She warned me to take off my suit as soon as she touched it."

"Well, her being a meta-human explains General Eiling's interest in her." Dr. Wells sighed as Joe was walking into the Cortex.

"And why he stole the case from us," the detective agreed. "He didn't want anyone to know what she could do."

Dr Wells glanced up at Joe as he walked past. He smiled faintly, nodding in greeting. "Detective."

"Doctor." Joe perched on the edge of the table, "So. A human bomb." He took a breath and let it out. "Must be Tuesday in Central City."

"Yes," Dr Wells agreed. " and General Eiling is not one to give up a potential asset without a fight."

"We have to find her before he does." I said determined, thinking back to the scared look on her face.

"Berry, can I see you for a second?" Joe tilted his head towards the hallway and didn't wait to see if I was following him. I blinked and joined him after shrugging at the others.

I joined him in the hallway and saw him staring at me in annoyance. "When were you planning on telling me that Iris saw the Streak?"

I jumped to defend myself. "That wasn't planned, she caught me off guard!"

"We had a deal. we keep her in the dark, about the meta-humans and about what you can do, and I don't go Floyd Mayweather on you."

"I know, Joe. Okay? I know!"

He continued over me. "And she's writing a blog now?"

"I already talked to her about that!"

Joe gave me a look of disbelief. "Well, talk to her again! And be more convincing."

"Okay," I sighed, and eyed Joe when he just kept staring at me, expectantly. After another moment it clicked. "Oh. You mean, right now?"

He nodded. "Yes, I do."

I sprinted away.

 **8888**

I only popped into my apartment (still clean, for I'm under threat to keep it that way, because even though Caitlin's back at her place, she said she's still going to come by and check) long enough to put on my own clothes before finding Iris at Jitters.

"You've got to stop writing about this Streak guy," I huffed. "He doesn't even exist!"

"I saw him, Berry!" Iris said in exasperation. "He wears a red suit, like, a uniform or something, with a lightning bolt on his chest!"

I forced out a scoff. "I mean, Iris, come on. You were drinking last night at the bar."

She raised an eyebrow and gave me a look. "I was not drunk, and I know what I saw."

I shook my head, and thought about just telling her. As much as I hated lying to my adoptive sister, I couldn't help but agree with Joe about her being in danger...

"I think he smiled at me," Iris continued, smiling at the thought. Oh, boy.

This was awkward as fuck. Iris was developing a crush on me, no, what she thinks is a male Streak! "Look, if he's wearing a mask, that means he doesn't want people to know who he is."

"It doesn't matter _who_ he is, what matters is that people know that he's out there!" She took in the frustrated look on my face and gave me a betrayed and confused look. "What is wrong with you? This is important to me, why can't you be more supportive?"

I winced at that, and Iris continued to berate me about the irony of shouting to world that the impossible was possible, and now that it was happening, I didn't want to hear it.

I watched her walk away, her look of disappointment still haunting me. I had to talk to Joe, we couldn't keep lying to her like this.

My phone buzzed and I pulled it from my pocket and saw that it was Cisco. I glanced back up at the retreating Iris before answering. "Yeah?"

"We piggybacked onto General Eiling's own surveillance," Cisco said. "According to what they are saying the lovely Ms. Sans Souci was spotted in Inglewood."

"The same neighborhood as Dr Harold Hadley's office," Caitlin added. "The military surgeon who performed several procedures on her. That's why she was looking for the folder."

"You have to get to her before Eiling does," Cisco added.

"Okay." I agreed.

 **8888**

I sped into the Center for Inflicted Wounds run by Dr. Hadley, coming to a halt behind Bette. The doctor behind the desk stared at my sudden appearance in shock as Bette spun to face me. As I opened my mouth to warn her, a muffled shot rang out, shattering the glass and a round struck Bette in the shoulder, sending her to the floor.

I was beside her, mindful of her touch. "You okay? This place is surrounded by Eiling's men and we need to get you out of here. I can do that, I can even help you understand what happened to you."

"How?" Bette frowned.

"Because...it happened to me too," I confided. "And others. Please."

The,window shattered again and time slowed for me, it was a flash-bang grenade, meant to stun us both. I scooped Bette up and sped out of there even as it went off.

 **8888**

I've watched the simulation of the particle accelerator exploding before, but Bette hadn't.

"...and as the detonation dispersed through Central City, a number of people were exposed to a wave of unqualifable energy, and one of those people was you." Dr. Wells explained as Caitlin handed Bette a pair of gloves.

"I...had just returned from Afghanistan..." she said as she pulled the gloves on. "I was there defusing roadside bombs and shrapnel ripped through me. I was flown back stateside, spent months at the base recuperating and the next thing I know I became the thing that almost killed me...and Eilings' favorite new lab rat..."

"The Dark Matter must have combined with the bomb's particulates inside your body..." Caitlin said from where she was now sitting by Cisco.

Bette frowned. "I thought Eiling did this to me..."

"Eiling," Dr. Wells interjected, "is no where near smart enough to make someone like you, but he is clever enough to see your value."

"Do you know of any others that were changed?"

"There have been a few," Caitlin replied.

Cisco smiled dreamily at Bette, "But none have looked like you."

Bette blinked at him while I face palmed on Cisco's behalf behind her. Oh, man.

"I'm sorry... _that_ was inappropriate," he laughed nervously. "Please don't leave?" He begged quietly.

Caitlin leaned in towards Cisco and informed him: "I know how to perform a lobotomy."

His brows furrowed in alarm.

"On that note...how about we run some tests, Bette." I said, gaining her attention. "The best way to understand your powers is to study them, especially with the smartest people I know already in this room."

She nodded thankfully, and we all headed into the the exam room.

 **8888**

It was new to be on this side of the monitors and not the one sitting on that exam table.

"The cellular structure is like nothing I've ever seen," he murmured.

"Her nitrogen levels are off the charts," Caitlin added.

"Do you think we can help her?" I asked Dr. Wells, walking closer to him to lean over his shoulder so I could peer at the monitor.

"To answer that question we have to understand how she works. And to understand that, we have to see her in action." he replied, eyes moving from the screen to me for a second.

"You want her to blow stuff up!" Cisco grinned with glee. "Yes, now we are talking!"

I bent at the waist so that my head was right next to the older man's. "And to think just earlier he was pissed that she blew stuff up, my suit especially." I whispered by Dr. Wells's ear, glancing at Cisco with amusement.

"Yes, the irony isn't lost on me" he chuckled softly before leveling a look at Cisco. "Not in here, she's too unstable."

"I know," the other man whined.

"I know you know," Dr. Wells sighed but the corner of his mouth quirked up at my soft giggle near his ear.

Faintly I could hear Caitlin and Bette speaking but I kept glancing down at Dr. Well's shoulders and neck, which were just as strong and roped with muscle as I remember. It was hard not to look when I've _seen_ what he looked like shirtless.

Huh. I didn't really think about it before at SLAP but he must work out _every day_ to get built like that. That just goes beyond physical therapy.

As I was remembering how those thick arms felt against my bare skin, and getting lost in just how much, ah, _movement_ he could probably be capable of, even without use of his legs, I heard Caitlin exclaiming about Bette being shot.

My head shot up and my dirty thoughts were washed away with anxiety when Bette spoke in horror:

"It's a tracker!"

And then alarms beeped as if on cue.

On one monitor was the security feed for the elevator leading down to them and we saw General Eiling, surrounded by soldiers who were armed to the teeth. I backed away from the older man a bit, and looked to him, knowing he'd have a plan.

I wasn't disappointed. "Lock down the Pipeline and get Bette out of here!" Dr. Wells said as he backed his chair up. "I will take care of Eiling."

"Be careful," I said worriedly and the stress weighing down on my chest lightened a little when he met my eyes.

He nodded while saying, "You as well, Berenice." before continuing through the door. I went to follow Caitlin and Bette, but paused a the door, glancing back at the monitors.

After a moment's hesitation, I walked back to the screen and pulled up the camera feed showing Eiling stepping out of the elevator with his men, motioning for them to start going through building.

My breathing quickened when Harrison came into view stopping a good distance away from the general.

Why did he have to go alone? This guy made me nervous as hell, he looked like he wasn't against shooting a man in a wheelchair.

Or by the look on his smug, condescending face, he'd love to shoot at least Harrison Wells, crippled or not.

I slammed a hand onto the the key to turn up the volume, only to realize that this camera didn't have audio. Damn.

I continued to watch their interactions and my muscles bunched together in preparation to sprint and protect Harrison when Eiling got closer to him with the intent to pass him by.

I didn't relax until he passed him and the other man was alone. I glared at the grey haired man on the screen before streaking out of the lab after the others.

 **8888**

The abandoned Ferris Airstrip had become a refuge, just like STAR Labs had. Right now it wasn't me who was showing off my abilities, but Bette. The Frisbee the red head flung soared through the air for several seconds before detonating into a fireball.

I couldn't help but let out a whoop. When all was said and done, it was still a cool ability.

"Four hundred and twenty seven KPAs," Cisco was gleeful from where he was at his monitor and I tuned him out, exchanging a glance with Bette.

We walked down the airstrip a bit, leaving Cisco and Caitlin behind.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

Bette glanced over at me before looking back down the airstrip. "When I was in Afghanistan, the insurgents started booby trapping cars. So I spent the rest of my tour terrified of touching another vehicle. But now...I'm going to spend the rest of my life terrified of touching other human being."

I winced faintly. I thought what had happened to me, the looming possibility of never being with anyone for fear of having to lie about who I was, or being in constant fear of my lover being targeted just to get to me; but not being able to touch another person, especially someone I loved?

"Have they tried to help you?"

I looked at Bette. "They've been helping me learn to use my powers to help others, not...reverse them."

"If they could reverse them, so that you're not a...meta human...would you?"

Not being a meta human...I could at least settle down or be with whoever I want without worrying about enemies, but... I liked my powers. I couldn't imagine living without the feeling of electricity flowing through my veins every second of every day.

Not to mention that I liked being able to help people.

"...I don't think I would. A friend of mine told me that he thought that I had been given my speed for a reason, that I was...chosen. I don't know if I believe that, but I _do_ want to help people." I shrugged sheepishly. "And with my speed I can help so many people and I...like being able to help them. There's drawback to my powers sure but...I think the good I can do outweigh them."

Suddenly my phone started to buzz in my pocket. I shot Bette an apologetic smile before pulling it out, and saw it was Joe. "Sorry..." She nodded and started walking back.

Stepping away, I accepted the call. "Hey, Joe."

His voice was heavy with disapproval and disappointment. "I doubt your talk with Iris was a rousing success; she just posted another story about the Streak."

I pinched the bridge of my nose in aggravation. "Joe...I tried, I really tried!"

"It has her name is on it, Berry, her actual name! She's not being anonymous anymore."

" _What?_ Joe-"

He made a sound on the other end of the phone. "It's my fault, I shouldn't have asked you to talk to her."

"Look, maybe we should just _tell her!_ Maybe she'll be safer if she was in the loop and-"

His sigh was heavy. "I just wanted to let you know. Okay? Bye." He hung up.

I glared at the phone and sighed as well, for different reasons. "Damn it."

"What was that about?" Cisco asked, eyeing my phone in concern.

"Iris posted about the Streak again. She even signed her _name_ to it..." I ran a hand through my short hair and shook my head.

Cisco winced, understanding the need to worry. "Oh that's not good..."

"I know..."

"What if one of the bad meta humans we're dealing with thinks she might know something about you and, and-"

"And they may target her, I know," I sighed, and started to think of a plan.

 **8888**

It was closing time at Jitters. The bell rung as I entered, causing Iris to call out: "We're closed!"

Iris whirled when the sharp wind from my dash when behind her, stirring up napkins and stray pieces of paper. And she turned around to see me standing there, or, to see the Streak. Standing on the other side of Jitters, standing there and staring at her wearing that red leather uniform she had seen from the other night.

"Oh my God, it's you!" My sister gasped in awe.

My face was still blurred, and my vocal chords were distorted from the vibrations, causing my voice to sound unrecognizable, and just a tad bit deeper, keeping my gender a mystery. "Iris West, I hear you've been writing about me."

She walked away from the counter so that she was standing across from me. "You _are_ real..."

I only nodded.

"I should, um, let me just clean up-"

"No need." I chuckled, and speed cleaned the whole cafe in under 5 seconds. Iris just looked around the place in shock and then turned to me again.

"Meet me on the roof. I'll give you a head start." I joked.

She smiled excitedly and hurried up towards the roof, and I couldn't help but chuckle more at how excited she was, and ran up to the roof, choosing to sit cross legged on the tallest ledge, so I could look down on her when she walked through the door.

As soon as she joined me, I called, "I need you to stop writing about me."

Iris whipped around at the sound of my distorted voice. "There are a lot of people who need someone like you right now." She paused for a second, giving my seating posture a funny look. "To know that you're out there."

I started to tap my elevated foot and pondered how to go about this without giving too much away. "I have so many questions!" Iris continued, letting out a breathless laugh. "Where are you from?"

I ran down to her level and stood a few feet from her. "I can't say."

She turned to me again, with a wide smile. "Who are you?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "I can't tell you that, either." I ran back up to the level I was sitting before but on the opposite side.

"How can you do what you do?!" she called up at me, tracking me a little faster this time.

I kept my silence giving her a look, which, she probably couldn't make out anyway.

She threw her hands up in the air. "You're a _terrible_ interview!"

"This isn't a game, Iris West." I said from behind her now, and she whirled to face me. "There's more to this than you understand. Trust me, please? I _need_ you to _stop."_

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Can _you_ stop? Running into buildings and saving people without them even knowing that you're there?"

"I don't do this for the glory." I said firmly.

"So why do you?" she retorted.

I didn't answer.

Iris sighed, and looked to be fighting herself about something before she gave in. "Look, I have this friend..."

My mouth dropped open a bit. Was she...?

"and she had something _terrible_ happen to her when she was a kid. Her whole life she's been telling stories about this impossible thing."

My heart clenched painfully in my chest hearing Iris talk. I truly, loved my adoptive sister so much right now. God, she needed to _know_ about me...

 _"People laughed at her._ Shrinks analyzed 's been searching for an explanation ever since." Iris finished, coming a little closer to me, eyes flashing over me. "But now, it's like she's lost her faith...and the last time it that happened..."

I swallowed, knowing the cause for the fear underlining her voice. She had front row seats back when my temper had started to crawl out of control, I was like a ticking bomb from my teen years to my final years of college before I finally got it together.

Iris had seen more of those times than Joe ever did, and bless her, she never told him. Even to this day she still claims that the fear she felt was _for_ me, and not of me, but I'll always wonder. And regret.

"But you-you are _proof_ that she wasn't crazy!" Iris continued, unaware of my inner turmoil. She rested her hands on my chest, just above my breasts. "Please save my friend..."

I calmly and gently took her hands in mine and removed them from myself, noticing her eyes dart quickly to my chest. "She's a lucky girl." I said, smiling softly.

I'm hoping soon, I could tell Iris everything and tell just how lucky I felt to have a friend and sister like her.

 **8888**

The tension in the Cortex was thick when I walked in the next morning. I glanced between Bette and the three scientists in worry.

"Whats' wrong? Did Eiling find out you're here?"

"No," Bette shook her head. "Caitlin was about to give me the not-so-good news..."

Alarmed, I glanced over at Caitlin, who was biting her lower lip. I felt my eyes drawn to Dr. Wells and he turned to meet my gaze, his eyes were darkened, grim.

"The shrapnel in your body has merged with you on a cellular level." Caitlin said softly.

Dr. Wells leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his thighs as he regarded Bette. "The technology required to unsplice your DNA..." he shook his head. "It hasn't been invented yet."

"Bette..." I began softly and the soldier was shaking her head.

"Its okay. Roger that..." she took a breath. "I just need a minute." She pushed herself to her feet and stalked away. "Don't worry I'm pretty sure I can cry without blowing stuff up."

I bit down on my lower lip, trailing after Bette a few steps before stopping, raking my hands through my hair. Shit...

"What now?" Cisco asked.

"She joins us," I stated the obvious, turning back to them. "Becomes part of the team."

"Berry," Caitlin stepped forward. "You have an amazing ability to help people. She...makes things explode."

"So?" I asked in confused disbelief. "She's the first meta human we've meet that isn't hellbent on leveling this city."

"Its too dangerous," Dr. Wells disagreed.

I couldn't help but bristle at that. "Well, she _not_ going into the pipeline."

"Its not my suggestion that she go into the Pipeline, but if she were to remain here at STAR Labs, it will put all of us at risk," he explained, making a placating gesture with his hand.

"From Eiling?"

"Eiling is a dangerous man, Berenice. We do not want him as an enemy."

"After the lightning bolt, what if you hadn't found me?" I asked abruptly. "It could've been _me_ , hunted and on the run, cut off from everyone I knew and cared about. You guys saved me." I took a breath and let it slowly, looking them all in the eye. "More than you know."

I couldn't even imagine what I would have done if Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells weren't here with me doing this. It haunts me some nights what I could have turned into had I been forced on the run and away from the only family I had left. I already knew deep down that all that rage and hate was still there, waiting to be unleashed with the right prompting.

"And I want to save her just as bad as you do, Berry." Caitlin said softly, gesturing to Dr. Wells and Cisco. "We all do."

 **8888**

Joe was waiting for me in my lab. For a moment I felt panic that Iris had written another blog about meeting the Streak, before I saw he was reading a case file.

"Joe? What are you doing here?" I asked.

He set his coffee down and gestured with the file. "Going over your Mom's old case. How's it going with you?"

"Stellar," I smiled wanly at him. "I've made friends with a human bomb who I promised I could help and now I find out that there's no way I really can..." I took a breath before continuing. "I found out why Iris is writing about the Streak."

Joe looked to me expentantly.

"She's doing it for me." I laughed a bit. "She's trying to prove the impossible is possible."

Joe hummed in thought. "How did you figure that out?" he asked curiously.

Ah... "The Streak...may have talked to her..."

"Berry," Joe sighed in exasperation. "Don't you think Iris would recognize your voice?"

I grinned at that and started vibrating my throat. "No, me and Dr. Wells figured out a way to do this cool thing with my vocal chords, where I vibrate them so I sound like this!"

Joe stared at me for a second before busting out amazed laughter. I couldn't help but join him, cutting off the vibration.

After a minute we calmed down. "I know, it's cool, right?"

"Yeah," he agreed, and quickly lost his smile. "Look, Blueberry, I _want_ to keep her safe..."

I nodded in agreement. "I know. But Joe, you know the only way to truly do that is to tell her the truth."

I could already see him gearing up to shoot me down so I quickly said, "Look, just take a day or two to _think_ about it! All of the pros and cons, okay? Promise me that?"

The man sighed before nodding reluctantly. "Alright, I promise to think about it, but I'm not promising that I'll change my mind."

I nodded, happy to accept that, and smiled when he held out his arms for a hug. I walked up and gave him a big one. "I gotta get home, kiddo. Sleep tight, alright?"

I nodded and watched him leave before taking a seat at my desk, just letting the day's event settle in my mind for a beat.

 **8888**

I didn't like the feeling I had when I walked into the Cortex. The air was thick again and Cisco looked upset, Caitlin leaning forward with a hand on his in a consoling manner.

"...what's going on? Where's Bette?"

"She left," Cisco said, visibly depressed.

"What do you mean left? Where'd she go?" I was more than a little worried. Had Eiling gotten too close and spooked her? I glanced towards Dr. Wells as he rolled his chair towards us.

"She didn't say," Dr. Wells said, shaking his head.

"Where the hell could she be?"

A monitor beeped suddenly and Cisco whirled, his fingers flying over the keyboard. "That's the military feed! It...it looks like they've gone to the waterfront to meet with Bette!" He leaned back in disbelief. "She...turning herself in..."

A hollow feeling set in my stomach even as I turned away for my suit. "She's not turning herself in."

I raced for the waterfront as fast as I was able to go, heart pounding more for fear for my friend than the exertion of the run. In the distance was explosions and I could see the soldiers on the ground even as I skidded to a halt before Bette, who reared back in surprise.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Getting you out of here!" I replied.

"Not until I know Eiling is dead," Bette disagreed, shaking her head.

"Being a soldier doesn't mean you're a murderer. Don't become one now," I pleaded.

Bette was opening her mouth when a gunshot went off, hitting the woman.

Eiling had only been stunned, not killed, and the redhead fell to the ground before I could catch her.

"No! Bette!" I pushed my mask back, baring my face as I held my newest friend. "I'm sorry, I didn't see him, just hang on, I'll get you-"

"Don't be, Its not your fault," Bette interrupted. "I'm glad you stopped me."

"I'm gonna get you back to STAR Labs," I said, fighting hysteria.

"Berry..." she panted. "Dr. Wells...he...he..."

He what? I was confused and then terrified when Bette's eyes rolled back and her chest stopped moving. "Bette?! No!"

I felt frantically for a pulse and found...nothing. I choked on a sob of grief, my eyes watering. And then...I noticed it. The purple glow spreading through Bette's veins.

"Oh shit... Guys, we have a problem!"

"Is Bette okay?" Cisco demanded.

"No. Eiling killed her," I sniffed, blinking the tears back. "She's glowing...I think she's going to detonate!"

"Oh my God," Caitlin breathed. "A mass that size, the explosion would be-"

"Devastating," Dr. Wells said.

"Berry, you have to get her away from the city!" Caitlin said.

"But there's no time!" I said, looking up and around. This place was so isolated the only place I could go was... "Can I run on water? I built up enough speed to run up the side of a building...can I do that with water? How fast would I have to go to be able to run on water?!"

I could hear Cisco muttering the calculations and then Dr. Wells's voice: "Approximately six hundred and fifty miles per hour."

"You have to outrun the blast!" Cisco added. "Or you'll die too!"

I took a breath, pulling my mask back down over my face. Gently I scooped Bette into my arms. Taking another breath, I lunged forward, holding my friend's dead body towards firmly.

There was a fear I'd fall into the water when I raced onto it but I stayed atop the water. Water sprayed out behind me in streams as I ran through the waterways, heading from the city and into open water. Once I had gone out far enough into open ocean, I dropped Bette's body with a cry of anguish, racing away and back towards Central City.

Back towards STAR Labs.

And then the explosion went off behind me.

I could feel the vibrations under my boots, could hear the water rushing in a miniature tidal wave behind me. I was barely able to keep ahead of it, knew it would suck me under and probably crush me.

And finally, finally I was safe as the wave dissipated bit by bit and I reached the shoreline, where I ripped of my mask and fell onto the sand, resting on all fours, and screamed into my arms in grief.

My ears were ringing, my head pounding and thoughts fuzzy for I don't know how long.

I started to breathe a little easier and finally noticed the chatter from my comm.

"Berry!"

"Are you alright, Berenice?"

"Come back, Berry..."

I got up on wobbly legs and tried not to look at the bodies around me and sprinted back to the Cortex.

I stalked into the room and fought to keep a composed face. Caitlin was looking at me with worry, Cisco with grief, and Dr. Wells with an unreadable expression.

I stopped by Caitlin and took deep breathes, begging for calm.

It was silent in the Cortex for about fifteen seconds, before Cisco broke it. "I...I can't believe she's gone..." he said in a wobbly voice, and I felt my old friend rear up and howl at the injustice of this whole damn universe.

A hiss tore it's way through clenched teeth and I swept a hand across the desk near Caitlin, causing a lamp to go flying across the room. The others jumped at the sound of glass shattering across the floor.

My body was sporadically vibrating, causing Cisco and Caitlin to stare at me in shock and wariness. Dr. Wells looked at me carefully.

It wasn't enough! I blurred over to the wall beside me and punched it at high speed, the sound of something breaking cut through the room. Adrenaline drowned any pain I would be feeling from my now broken hand, but the gasps from the others truly killed any wish for violence I felt until all that was left was sadness and weariness.

I felt someone lightly touch my bleeding hand and turned my tired eyes towards Caitlin, who was looking at me with worried eyes. My eyes flashed to Cisco, who was staring at me with watery eyes.

"I'm sorry," I croaked out. I looked away from them and glanced at Dr. Wells, who was now sitting on my other side.

"I'm sorry..." I repeated stupidly, suddenly ashamed that I lost it in front of him of all people. What he must think of me now...

He gave me a soft smile, and gently shushed me while taking my uninjured hand and pulling me towards him. Before I understood what was happening, I had been pulled practically in his lap, his arms around me in an embrace, meant to be comforting. My arms automatically coiled around his neck, my broken hand resting at an angle that didn't hurt as bad.

My hand could be falling off and I would still be right here in this man's arms.

My knee rested on the edge of his seat between his legs and his hands were rubbing my back soothingly. My head was tucked into his neck, and I let loose a couple of sobs, and tried to calm down by breathing in his scent. He murmured that it's going to be okay into my ear, his voice smooth and low like a morning mist rolling over the ground.

I wasn't sure how long I was there for, but I reluctantly pulled back when I felt more composed.

Harrison stared into my eyes with a look as soft as his smile, emotions flashing through his eyes faster than I could read them. "She's gone, Berenice." I grimaced at the reminder. "But she'll never be forgotten. Not as long as you're alive."

And just like that, that familiar knot in my chest loosened until I truly felt unburdened by it's hold. I stared at him, a smile slowly starting to form. "Yeah," I whispered, believing his words. "You're right. Thank you, Dr. Wells..."

He nodded faintly, and I finally got fully out of his space. Caitlin took that as her cue to whisk me away to the med bay, and I couldn't help but glance back to the man in the wheelchair and wonder...

...did those words help get him through his late wife's death as well?

 **8888**

"Nothing out of the ordinary occurred," Eiling said on the broadcast. "The military was simply conducting an underwater weapons test. There is no need for panic or alarm. Central City is safe, I guarantee it."

"You lying son of a bitch!" I shouted, reaching for something else to throw when Dr. Wells clamped a firm hand around my now healed hand. I snapped my gaze to him, my eyes burning with anger. "He murdered her! Right in front of me!"

The older man only interlaced our fingers in response.

My anger drained out of my face. "...there's nothing we can do to him?"

Dr. Wells rubbed his thumb in soothing circles on the outside of my hand. "Powerful men have a way of avoiding consequences..."

Caitlin placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I will be." I admitted.

"Hey...you can walk on water. That puts you in pretty interesting company."

I smiled at her and glanced at the man who was staring at me, still holding my hand.

I felt my features soften even more at how wonderful and kind this man was. I disentangled our hands and thanked him again before walking out of the Cortex.

 **8888**

I had a depressing talk with Iris later that night. She just refused to give up her blog, saying it was about more than just helping prove me right now.

I suggested we take some time apart until we could see eye to eye, something she reluctantly agreed to.

Against my better judgement, I ended up at the same pub we all met up at the other night after my talk with Iris.

I just drank club soda, the cheapest think on the menu that was water, since alcohol did nothing for me anyways.

I was in the middle of ordering another when Caitlin and Cisco joined me, taking me by surprise.

Turns out they wanted to have a toast for Bette, even going as far as making me a potent serum that should hit me.

I've never drank something so fast. I was _so relieved_ when I felt it immediately get me buzzed.

That happiness lasted for about twenty seconds, then the drink wore off.

Oh, well. I was still happy my friends were here with me, because that's what really matters.

Our loved ones.

 **8888**

 **I'm not abandoning any of my fics, not even the Chaven Shuffle, I just have so much adulting going on right now.**

 **Also, i'm trying to recover from finally finishing season 4 of Flash. I am not okay with what happened to Harry. I love all the Wells, but he's my fucking favorite.**

 **Not. Okay.**

 **I wanna be clear here, i'm not making Berry be like Oliver, she's going to be a little more grey than the original Flash, but i'm not planning to make her a violent speedster. All those feelings stem from what happened to her when her mom died and she felt alone in the world, with the only other person who was there locked in prison.**

 **More on that next chapter, and a slightly different take on her childhood bully.**

 **Anyway, hope you liked the chapter, thanks for all the reviews and favs and follows, they make my day!**


	8. The Flash is Born, Part 1

**Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, because here's part 1 of 2.**

 **8888**

I was getting tired of meeting with Iris as the Streak.

And Joe _still_ hasn't given me an answer since I asked him to consider letting her in on our secret. The most I can get out of him is a quick, "I'm still thinking about it, I'll get back to you tomorrow."

That was a _week_ ago.

It's been a nice, calm week, to be honest. No meta humans, just low time crimes. It's been a welcome break, since I had some damage control to do. Caitlin and Cisco were still wary after my...explosive...reaction to Bette's death and Eiling getting away scot-free.

The day after was the worst. Cisco acted like I was going to snap about anything, when he forgot to get me a bagel with my coffee that morning, he paled so fast he looked like he was on the brink of death.

Caitlin though...Caitlin's reaction hurt worse. After she stayed with me those couple days, I felt like we really got closer. I thought we were becoming good friends, but even she acted like she was walking on eggshells around me.

I'd asked her if she wanted to come over for dinner later that night, so she didn't have to think up an excuse to check my apartment to make sure I was keeping it clean that week, but she claimed to be too busy with a project Dr. Wells had for her.

Turns out, when I'd asked him about it, he knew less about the 'project' than I did.

It hurt.

On top of that, me and Iris still weren't really talking, either. I would usually go to her to talk about this kind of stuff, but we were still 'fighting' about her Streak blog, so there went that option, too.

A calm week it may be, it was a lonely week too.

Well, nearly.

The one bright thing about the whole thing was Dr. Wells. He was the only one still acting completely normal about everything that had happened. In fact, he was the only one to seem to _want_ to be around me. He still started conversations with me, topics usually being how I was feeling or how my day's been.

Although, aside from that, there was _one_ thing that came with all the welcome attention...

Ever since I lost my temper, the older man has been giving me long, intense looks. Sometimes they got so intense they made me uncomfortable. He seemed curious, for sure, but there was something else that lurked beneath the surface of that curiosity that I couldn't figure out, and that's what had my nerves going crazy.

It was like he was blindsided by my reaction to Bette, and now he didn't know what to think. The thought hurt like a punch to the chest, because if he didn't like who I _really_ was, then would all the secret smiles, the kind words, or even not-quite-flirting...stop?

The fear of losing that with Dr. Wells on top of everything else felt like a vice was around my heart.

Besides small talk, I hadn't really had a chance to talk to him the day after he consoled me about Bette's death. It wasn't until two days later of being ignored or avoided by everyone else that I gathered enough courage to go to his office and ask him to give Caitlin some more time so we could hang out for a bit, hoping that I could at least have time to spend with _one_ friend.

When he'd given me a very confused look and inquired about what I meant, I instantly knew that she'd lied.

Dr. Wells had caught my look of heartbreak immediately.

 **FLASHBACK**

 _Seeing the look on my face, he reached out and took a hold of my hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world._

 _My eyes snapped down to his from where I was staring at nothing, and he gave me a small smile._

 _"Rough week?" he asked kindly._

 _I wanted to be brave and say 'no', but I felt like honesty was a better choice. "A little. It's been rocky ever since...everything happened." I knew he'd understand what I was referring to without having to elaborate._

 _"Yes," He agreed. "Cisco has been having an exceptionally hard time of it too."_

 _A silence fell over us then, both of us just staring at one another. I wasn't sure what else to say, and Dr. Wells looked like he was content to just look at me until I said something._

 _I said the first thing that came to mind. "I've been...lonely."_

 _His eyes widened a bit behind his glasses, looking like he wasn't expecting that. "Lonely?" He repeated softly, his thumb stroking my knuckles._

 _"Yeah," I nodded. "Joe is avoiding me right now, and Iris and I are having a bit of a...rift about her blog, so I haven't really talked to her either. Cisco and Caitlin are..." I drifted off for a minute before whispering, "scared."_

 _Dr. Wells tilted his head in that way that makes my insides go all gooey. "I don't think they're scared of you, Berenice."_

 _I shook my head. "No, I know those looks they give me, I recognize them. I got them all the time back when I was more, well, back when I was younger."_

 _"I don't know what you mean."_

 _"I mean-I'm talking about how I was back when I had less control of my temper." I reluctantly elaborated._

 _He suddenly took off his glasses and set them on his desk, now looking at me with electric blue eyes, unguarded by lenses. "Have you always...had issues with anger?" He asked, voice kinder still, but his eyes had that intense look again._

 _"...Ever since my mother was murdered, yes..." I let out an explosive sigh and ran my free hand through my short hair, tousling it. "Look, it's usually not an issue, just sometimes, it comes back. Or-or it never really_ left, _it's just really, really, buried and sometimes it breaks through. But I have it under control!" I hurriedly tried to explain, remembering the reason Cisco had made the cold gun in the first place._

 _In case I was dangerous._

 _I looked at Dr. Wells with wide eyes, pleading silently that he understood that I wasn't going to just snap one day and maliciously hurt or kill someone just because my temper ran away from me._

 _The man continued to just look at me, and I was starting to get nervous as hell, tears gathering without my consent. Before they could overflow, he suddenly pulled my arm so that I was leaning down into his embrace, just like the first time a couple days ago._

 _Tingles lit up every part that he touched. I wasn't all there to feel it when he hugged me before, but woo boy do I feel it now._

 _Part of me was convinced that it was my huge crush that made me feel this way, and the dark matter in my cells, the lightning, was reacting to that. Another part thought that it was my soul reaching out to his like in those romance books Iris liked to read, talking about feeling literal sparks when they met their soulmate._

 _Whatever it was, it was making it_ really _hard to think, or breathe for that matter. My body was feeling heated and my blood was singing from the zaps swimming through it._

 _"It's okay,_ you're _okay, Berenice." He murmured into my hair, his arms wrapped around my back. He sounded a little out of breath, and I idly wondered if he could feel_ it _too._ _"You're only human. It's normal to feel the things you do after everything you've been through."_

 _I took a shaky breath, and noticed how clean and masculine he smells while doing so. "How can you just say that?" I asked, tears in my voice, and finally pulled my arms up from where they were hanging limply by my sides to wrap them around the sitting man. "How can you say that like you don't even care about what I could have done when I lost control in the past? Like there isn't anything_ wrong with me..."

 _"There is_ nothing _wrong with you." Dr. Wells said, voice firm. "So you're an angry young woman-that's fine. I used to be angry myself, when I lost my wife. It's natural. I feel plenty of anger now, as well, with the hand I've been dealt with in life now. You just have to get through it, find an anchor."_

 _My face was nuzzled into the crook of his neck by the time he stopped speaking. Like I was under someone else's control, my face had gravitated to the spot, and my face felt hot from the contact. Not from a blush, but like I was being cooked from under my skin._

 _I soaked up his words, and found them to be much more insightful than what any of the therapists told me all those years ago._

 _My lips were resting innocently against his neck, and I couldn't help but wonder what he'd do if I just swept my tongue out for a taste. I wondered if the golden lightning that flowed around and through me when I run would spark at the contact. I bet that it would be the sweetest torture, for both him_ and _me if it did._

 _And then felt guilty about thinking about it; I felt like a pervert._

 _He shifted a bit against me, probably wondering why I'm not responding. "Berenice?"_

 _I just nodded, and brought my head up to look at him, and tried to push my less-than-innocent thoughts away. I drew up and away from his embrace, and leaned back against his desk, still close enough to touch him if I reached out. His eyes swept over me, and I smiled softly at him._

 _"Thank you, Dr. Wells. I'm feeling a little better about myself now." I said, only half-truthful._

 _Not even this man could convince me that I was in-fact normal. Not when all I could think about doing when I heard the pain in his voice when talking about his wife's death and having useless legs was just to grab a handful of hair and kiss him till he didn't even remember his own name._

 _Not when, while he was trying to make me feel better, all I could think about was fantasies of running my tongue over every inch of him, to feel those tingles._

 _It was an inconvenient, knee jerk reaction that I had a lot around him, and it especially showed up when he looked sad, or even angry. If that wasn't proof that I was a sick person, I didn't know what was._

 _Then he said something that stole my breath away._

 _"Harrison."_

 _I blinked at him dumbly. "Wh-what?"_

 _The soft smile he's had this whole time twisted into an amused smirk. "You can call me Harrison, Berenice. I know you well enough that it's only fair to be on a first name basis."_

 _"But, not even Cisco and Caitlin call you that," I said, even though I was happy as hell. It'd been on the back burner since Felicity's visit, but I was pretty green with jealously that he let her call him his name and not me._

 _He gave me an amused look, like he knew just what I was thinking about._ _"That's because they're used to me being their boss. I've already tried to kick them of the habit, but I've given up on that months ago." He said, and winked. "Besides, I'm starting to feel a little awkward from calling you Berenice and you calling me by my title."_

 _Oh, my God. "Why do you call me that, anyway?" I threw out, trying to distract my brain from that wink. I was still close to him, so seeing it from this distance was like seeing it in high definition._

 _Now he was the one to blink in confusion. "What?"_

 _"Well...why do you call me my full name? Nobody else does." I was genuinely curious about this. I liked when he said it, but he was literally the only one who says it by choice._

 _"Ah," he rubbed a hand over his mouth, looking away from me for the first time since I entered his office. "I suppose...it's because I'm a selfish person."_

 _Okay, I'm a little lost now. "Selfish? How does that make you selfish?" I asked._

 _"Does anyone else call you Berenice?"_

 _I shook my head._

 _"Well then, I suppose that's why. I'm the only who knows you by it, then you are_ my _friend, Berenice."_

 _"But I'm the same person whether I go by either name..." I said, still confused by his reasoning, but had a zing go down my spine when hearing say I was his._

 _"Not entirely." He disagreed. "Berenice is the name of the girl I'm starting to know, who I think is amazing. I have a hunch that you don't let a lot of other people see that person. If you were to show people who_ my _Berenice is rather that the Berry that they are used to, they would agree, since one isn't nearly as wonderful as the other."_

 _I stared at him and ran what he said through my head, and couldn't help but let out a small snicker. "That was, um, that was very sweet...right up until you insulted who I am to everyone I know." I teased, though on the inside I felt so happy that I could have stood up on his desk and sung._

 _"Ah, I maybe could have worded that better." He chuckled, white teeth flashing. "I only meant that the Berry that I've observed doesn't seem as happy, but you, Berenice, are not like that. You're sweet, smart, funny, and so strong that other people would see that too. Is that better?"_

 _"Well, it's not worse." I smirked, then couldn't help but ask, "So what you're saying in between the lines is that you_ don't _want me to show that person to other people, you want me all to yourself."_

 _I don't know where this presumptuous side of me came from, but it was probably Dr-no,_ Harrison's, _fault._

 _He shrugged, and met my smirk with one of his own. "I did say that you were smart."_

 _"I can stay your secret friend if you want," I said, being honest. Would I like more than that? God yes, but I'll take what I can get. "I don't really blame you, with how everyone feels about you right now, they might_ say _that they disapprove of you being friends with me, but they'd love to talk about something scandalous."_

 _Harrison raised a brow at that. "Are you intending to do something scandalous with me, Berenice?"_

 _I couldn't stop myself from blushing. Oh God, I didn't even think about how that sounded!_

 _A smile appeared on his face._ "There's _that adorable blush. I was wondering when I would see it again." He teased._

 _I forced myself to scowl at him. "Hey! My blush isn't adorable! It's annoying." I grumbled, but stopped pretending to be upset when he let out a short laugh. "What? We're friends for like five seconds, and you're already laughing at me?"_

 _"I can't really help it," he said, reaching for his discarded glasses and putting them back on. "I hope that's not a deal breaker for being my friend, because I don't know if I'll be able to stop finding you cute."_

 _Was I hallucinating? Dreaming, perhaps? "No, I suppose not." I said. "I guess it'll make my awkwardness even out a bit, so it works."_

 _Before we could continue, I got a notification that there was a robbery, and I shot Dr. Wells an apologetic look._

 _He only nodded and waved me off. "Go on, save lives."_

 _I grinned, and raced off to fight crime, feeling lighter than I had in days._

 **8888**

Ever since we officially became friends, (something that still has me staring off into nothing dreamily-I'm friends with _Harrison Wells!)_ we've been spending a lot more time together. We talk in his office, sometimes he talks to me about some of his projects or theories when I'm doing my run on the treadmill. One time we actually went out into public and had lunch at Big Belly Burger.

Dr. Wells seemed uncomfortable the whole time, but I'm pretty sure he was just worried about me getting looks for wanting to be around him after everything. I _did_ get some looks while we waited in line to order, but I could honestly care less.

Like, dude, I was on a lunch date with _Dr. Harrison Wells._ I had a hard enough time trying not to swagger into the building with him, let alone be bothered by how they saw me.

I was trying desperately to get over my crush on the man, especially now that we were friends, but he was _just so unfair._ The things Harrison does, like telling me I could one day be a hero that strikes hope into people's hearts with just a name, so casually, like it's nothing.

How can anyone expect me to stop wanting to put my tongue in his mouth when he keeps saying things like that? It's not cool-he probably thinks he's a bit of a father figure and a lot of a mentor and it's so messed up for me to think of him like this, but I'm greedy, I want to be everything to Harrison Wells.

Including that impossible, unattainable little thing.

With Harrison's company, no matter how great, there was still the issue of Iris writing about the Streak hanging over my head. It was now the end of the week, and I spied on her writing in Jitters, getting ready to close for the night.

I saw when she published the article, and sped over and carried her up to the roof to have another chat.

Hopefully I could get through to her this time.

I stood behind her as she took in her new surroundings, and started vibrating my vocal chords. I was far enough away that my face should be hard enough to make out.

"You're welcome."

Hearing me, she spun around with a elated smile. "How did you-? I _literally_ just hit send!"

I shrugged. "Speed reading."

Iris squinted at me from where she was. "It's crazy what you can do to your voice."

I sprinted around her to came to a stop a little closer. "You need to stop writing your blog." I said, trying to keep my voice even.

"People need to know that you exist." She immediately rebuked, before her phone started to vibrate. She looked away from me to check her phone, and I saw her ignore it, before turning back to me asking, "What else can you do?"

I rolled my eyes. "This isn't an interview."

"Come on, you gotta give me something! Hobbies, pet peeves, favorite color?" She then gestured to my suit with a cheeky grin. "Wait, red, right?"

"One of my pet peeves is people putting themselves in danger needlessly." I said dryly, ignoring the rest.

"Oh, come on, this again? You sure you don't wanna tell me your hobbies?"

"You're not hearing me!"

"My hearing's fine. Just selective." God knows that's the truth. Her and Joe both. "What should I call you?" She asked me suddenly.

Well, that I couldn't ignore, it was too good to pass up. " _Anything_ but the Streak."

She smiled victoriously at that. "Fine, suggestions?"

"You said you were writing about me to bring hope to someone you care about. How would she feel if doing that put you in danger?"

Her smile diminished a bit. "She and I aren't exactly on the same page these days."

"Because of what I just said?" I couldn't help but snark.

"Besides, you're giving hope to a lot of people, not just her, so I'm doing this for them too." She continued, eyes sweeping over me with this look in her eye-

Oh Jesus, I _knew_ she wascrushing on me! No! She's crushing on the _Streak._

Oh, hell no. Gross...

"Look, I have to say it, because as attractive as you are-no that's not what I meant." I said, when I saw her eyes widen. "I''m a girl."

Her eyebrows shot up at that. "Oh!"

I nodded, about to say something stupid that would probably make things worse-

Suddenly sirens started to blare in the distance, and we both turned to look in that general direction.

Saved! "To be continued!" I said, glad that my voice was disguised, or it probably would have sounded weird. "Gotta run!"

I dashed away before she could say anything and then realized that it would be kind of shitty to just leave her on the roof, so I ran back and flashed her back into Jitters before heading towards the trouble.

Within seconds I could see the police forming a barricade, and recognized Joe and Eddie among them.

Then I saw a Humvee heading straight for a kid crossing the street, oblivious to what was going on because of his headphones.

Can't he see the flashing lights? It's _night_ for fuck's sake-I blurred over to the kid and swept him out of harm's way, setting him against a fence and rushing back out in a crackle of gold.

"He's not stopping!" One of the officers shouted.

Gunfire rained on the yellow Humvee, the police trying to shoot out the tires. Eddie seemed to give up on that approach, and shot at the driver, only to pause when the bullets hit, but had no affect.

"What the hell?!" Eddie gasped, stunned.

"Eddie!" Joe tackled his young partner out of the way of the oncoming Humvee before I could; and it barreled through the barricade of police cars, nearly striking them.

Shit, this guy just didn't give a fuck. I sped by them, leaving a crackle of gold in my wake. I blurred forward, ripping the driver's side mirror off the door to get his attention before coming to a halt in front of a chain-length fence, blocking the Humvee's path.

I took a breath and called out to him. "Step out of the vehicle."

"If you say so." The driver said in a confident voice, and I couldn't help but widen my eyes in apprehension when he stepped out. He was fucking _big-_

Then he ripped the door off the Humvee.

"Oh..."

He suddenly swung around and chucked the door at my head, and I quickly twisted my torso so that it flew past me, just missing me.

I stared at the door that was now just stuck in the fence and whipped back around to stare at the man incredulously. He just smirked, like he thought he was hot shit, and something about the look just annoyed me.

Knowing that my punches only did so much without speed and momentum, I ran forward faster than he could see and threw a fist straight into his smug face.

I instantly regretted it.

The bones in my hand and wrist cracked and felt like they shattered into a thousand pieces. I let out a shocked groan at the burning pain and turn of events.

"Shit, what the fuck are you made of, metal?!" I hissed through clenched teeth, turning to look up at the thug.

And watched his arm, starting from his fist, change before my very eyes. He turned just his head to look at me before saying, "Yep." and swung his now metallic arm at me, hitting me in the face with a devastating backhand.

I flew up into the air and slammed onto the hood of the Humvee with a thud, hearing more than feeling at least one rib break from impact, before slowly sliding off in a series of pained whimpers.

I rolled onto my stomach by the Humvee, dazed and gasping, that hit knocking the wind out of me, and spat out a glob of blood.

The man was suddenly crouching over me, and I squinted up at him, shit, there were two of him now-I have a concussion-

He leaned in closer to me, lips curling into a grin that was anything but nice. "Looks like you were born to take a beating."

I froze, hearing that. It was so, hauntingly familiar words I've heard countless times for years.

Words I've heard in my nightmares.

Time sped up again and he drew back his fist, ready to smash my head like a melon. I couldn't roll away, I was trapped between him and the Humvee, so pushed as hard as I could with my uninjured wrist so that I flew backwards and onto my back with a dull crack, and felt fear trickle in when the asphalt where I was just laying exploded from the impact of his fist.

I wasn't any match for this guy right now, I had to go, I had to run _run **run-**_

I scrambled to my feet before he finished pulling his fist out of ground, and sped towards STAR Labs, getting more and more lightheaded the whole way there. My vision was still double, and I almost damaged myself more by running into a parked bike, but I missed it, thankfully.

My lungs tweaked my ribs as I took in deep breathes required for the sprint, and finally after what felt like hours, but was probably only around a minute, made it to STAR labs.

I ran into the Cortex, hoping that everyone was already in here, but to my dismay, they weren't. My luck also ran out when it comes to not running into things, because my hip caught the corner of the desk and I went sprawling onto the floor heavily, rolling to a stop in the middle of the room.

As I just lay there, I knew I wouldn't be getting back up without help. I'm also sure that I now had a punctured lung from the broken rib. It's hard to breathe; cherry on my night.

I spat out another glob of blood, my cut gums not healed yet, and ripped off my mask with the last of my strength, before closing my eyes.

 **8888**

I awoke later feeling nothing but pain. I blinked at the ceiling for a moment, happy that I wasn't seeing double anymore, and glanced down to see that there was a brace on my hand and wrist, and that I'd been changed out of my suit into grey sweatpants and a tank top.

"Thirteen fractures," Caitlin said in greeting. "That's a new record, and that's just in your _hand."_

"Hi, Caitlin. How are you today?" I asked through gritted teeth. My breathing was a little easier, but still felt like a ton of bricks was sitting on my chest.

"You also have a concussion, two cracked ribs, one _broken_ rib, a punctured lung and a bruised spleen. Even with your accelerated healing, you'll need several hours to heal." She continued, ignoring my slightly sarcastic question.

Hours of this pain? Fuck me...

"What exactly did you _hit?"_ Harrison asked, driving over to sit on my unoccupied side. I could tell he wanted to take my hand, but the one he could reach was broken. "It wasn't another moped, was it?" He asked, with a teasing look in his eye.

I mock glared at him, and said, "A man. A big, bad, man, actually. "When I hit him, his skin changed. Like, it turned to metal."

"Interesting," Harrison mumbled, leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms. "a man of steel..."

"So you went after a meta human alone?" Cisco said, looking irritated. "Dude, why didn't you call us?"

"I didn't know what he was!" I said, defensive. "I just happened to be nearby, uh, patrolling the city so I went over to help."

Caitlin made a sound in her throat, and I turned to see her giving me a look I couldn't make out. A feeling in my gut made me think she was annoyed though.

Well, she could join the fucking club.

"You're lucky he didn't knock out your teeth. Those babies don't grow back." Cisco said.

I nodded in agreement and mumbled, "I could have sworn he seemed familiar...or at least, what he said was..."

I locked eyes with Harrison "He's going to hurt people, I have to stop him, How do I fight a guy made of steel?" I asked, hoping he would have an idea.

"Well find a way," He reassured, and rested a hand on my bare shoulder, igniting the sparks. At least that part of me doesn't hurt for the moment. "For now, you stay here to rest and heal, Berenice."

"Okay." I said with a small smile.

 **8888**

I ended up sleeping in late.

I was still healing some ribs and my lung in the morning, so Harrison had told Caitlin to leave me sleeping and call Joe to let him know I was taking a sick day.

I was a little annoyed that he made me miss work, if only because I wanted to help find the meta human. It only lasted maybe five minutes though, once I realized that he was just worried and wanted to make sure I was at a hundred percent before leaving the lab.

It was around noon now, and Cisco had gone and get us all some lunch. I chose to sit by Harrison while we ate, trying to come up with ideas on how to take down the man of steel.

It was the most time I've spent with Caitlin and Cisco all week.

Cisco was just starting to delve into a new idea for a 'super move' when he cut himself off abruptly, looking at something over my shoulder.

I peered over my shoulder and was shocked to see Iris standing in the entryway of the Cortex, looking anguished.

I was understandingly confused and also scared that she was here, and by the look of it, to seek me out. I had no warning, and I could only think the worst.

"Iris? What's wrong?" I asked, alarmed.

She shook her head. Her ruby lips moved, but no sound came out. Was she...trembling?

"Is it Eddie?" I asked sharply.

"No, no-"

The bottom dropped out of my heart. "Joe. Is he-"

"No!" Iris wrung her hands. "He's fine. They're fine." She glanced behind me and I followed her gaze, seeing that she was looking at Cisco, Caitlin and Harrison, who were trying hard to look innocent.

Yeah, they were totally eavesdropping.

I turned back to her and tried to figure out what could be wrong. Suddenly my relief twisted into more panic. "Wait, was it the blog? Did someone hurt you-"

"No! Oh, I'm sorry, I'm making this, it's just-" Iris fumbled with her bag, and pulled out some papers. She held them to her chest with her arms folded over them. "I went to visit Eddie, and well, he had these reports on someone who stole a Humvee last night-"

"Wait, they found out who it was?" I asked, excited. I reached for the papers, "Let me see-"

Biting her lip, Iris shook her head and took a step back. Her manner was so serious and turbulent that I felt deeply uneasy. Well...had I fought dangerous meta human or didn't I?

"Who is it?" I asked flatly.

Iris flashed her eyes across my face and towards my team behind me, hesitant to reveal anything.

Why was she just standing there, looking at me? This was important, the sooner we knew who he was, the sooner we find him!

Annoyed now, I snatched the paper from her hands.

"Don't-!" Iris cried desperately, grabbing after it, but I spun around so she would have to reach around me.

Tony Woodward.

The sight of him seared itself into my brain, the security picture on the report, that face-

Oh.

All of my thoughts vanished, dragged into a tiny pinpoint of light at the center of infinite emptiness. I was holding still, frozen, yet ripping through the blackness at the mercy of a violent, crushing pressure, toward that point of light-and it grew larger, and as I streaked towards it, I realized that it was white from heat, from a searing, blinding rage-

Iris was patting at my hands, trying to pry them off the paper. "You're going to hurt yourself," she said, voice wobbly. She made to pull the paper away-

I ripped the paper so savagely away from her that I tore it nearly down the middle.

"What is this fucKING ASSHOLE-" My voice was so loud that Iris flinched. Behind all the anger I registered that I was causing a scene, and Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells were now staring at us, not even pretending to look busy anymore.

"We-" Iris' eyes darted towards the others nervously. "We need to talk to Dad. We need to go there, now, right now. Come-come on..."

Taking me gently by the arm, she started to guide me out of the Cortex. I stumbled over nothing, hardly noticing where we were going, the print on the torn paper marching across my eyes as I tried to take it in; but only certain things stuck to me.

 _History of violence. Petty theft._

 _Assault._

 _Disappeared ten months ago._

 _He was a meta human now..._

I was going to be sick. How could this happen? How could this happen like _this_?

"I can't believe this," I said numbly. "I can't...he's..."

The memories of his adolescent self, his snide, cruel face as he pushed me into a locker, the heated eyes glaring down at me at my first high school party in an upstairs bedroom of a stranger's house hit me with wrenching force.

"I'm gonna be sick," I said. "No, fuck that, I'm not gonna be sick, I'm gonna find this fucking cunt faced bastard and I'm gonna ram him with his own stolen Humvee until his guts explode." No, the steel might withstand that-

Iris blinked at me with worried eyes. Only then did I realize that I was leaning on her, my arm around her neck, while Iris half supported, half dragged me down the hallway.

"I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to her potty mouth..." I heard from behind me, and I glanced behind me with a blank look and finally noticed that the others were following us; Cisco and Caitlin looked scared, Dr. Wells looked extremely worried.

I avoided their gaze, afraid of what they might see right now.

We should have a better chance to find him now at least, now that they knew who he was-oh fucking hell TONY WOODWARD was a META HUMAN! What if Joe and Eddie find him before we do?!

I dug my heels into the smooth floor and stood up straight. I swayed a moment, while Iris hovered with hands outstretched to catch me.

"I need to see Joe." I said.

"That's where we're going," Iris replied desperately.

"Good," I nodded, and turned around so that we going the opposite way of the Cortex.

Iris grabbed my hand and steered me back round the right way. "No, this way's the elevator, Berry-"

"Wait!"

Iris and I jerked to a stop at the unexpected shout and turned to look blankly at a frustrated Harrison Wells.

"Miss West," he said. His face was kind, but his tone betrayed his true emotions. "Thank you for coming. Will you please let us speak to Berenice alone for a minute?"

My sister glanced at me for a minute, and seemed to come to a decision. "I-I guess. But we really need to talk to my Dad-"

"Thank you," he said sincerely, and reached out to take my unoccupied hand, gently but firmly pulling me towards him as he turned his chair around. "We won't be long. " And with that, he lead me down the hall by the hand, Cisco and Caitlin trailing behind us.

I supposed Iris stood there staring after us. But somehow the hallway was gone and there was a wall between us, me in the Cortex, and Iris still down the hall by the elevator.

Then, Caitlin and Cisco were by the desks, and Harrison and I were further into the room, in the middle of the Cortex.

"Berenice, please look at me," the older man said softly, squeezing my hand. I might have felt quite elated that he said that so intimately to me if I hadn't felt two inches tall, and all twisted up with rage.

He gestured to one of the chairs at the table that we were stopped by. I collapsed into the closest one, so close that my leg bumped his. He offered me his favorite coffee mug, but I couldn't take it. My hands wouldn't unclench from the police report.

I was probably going to wind up with that shit-heads face seared onto my palms.

"It's _him_ ," I said suddenly.

"Who, Berenice?" Harrison asked, as if he'd never for one moment wanted to know anything else. "I promise you, that whoever it is that has you this scared, I will keep you _safe_."

As the words washed over me, I felt like sagging against the chair with relief. As unprobable as a crippled man protecting me from a literal man of steel may be, I still believed him.

"Tony Woodward." I practically spat, my eyes darting to his finally. Those deep blue that I usually get lost in were now narrowed in thought. "I know him-knew him. From grade school all the way up to high school with Iris and me..."

I had to take a shaky breath before I continued. "He beat up a lot of kids, including me."

Harrison was staring at me unblinkingly, soaking up my every word. The concern and recently-confirmed-fondness that I saw there made my eyes tear up with emotion.

"He really had it out for me, I-I almost always fought back...I was sure that he had a crush on Iris. He treated me like shit because he was jealous, since she spent so much time with me-" the words tumbled out like vomit, and I couldn't stop. "Only got worse when we were in high school...he cornered me at a party one time-" I cut myself off forcefully, never having told anyone what happened that night, and jammed a knuckle into my mouth, biting it to stop-

"Berenice!"

"Berry!"

Harrison yanked my hand out of my mouth and Caitlin finally approached me. I took deep breaths, silently berating myself for almost telling my special friend one of my darkest secrets.

My hand was bloody. Upon seeing the blood, I registered the sting, but it just seemed so superficial considering the everything else.

"Please, Berry! Don't hurt yourself," Caitlin begged quietly, and took my bitten hand from the man. He immediately grabbed hold of my other hand, lacing our fingers. For once, it wasn't very comforting. I still felt like I'd swallowed a bowl full of scorpions.

"I'll heal," I grunted, glancing at her and Cisco, before snapping my gaze to my lap, the pity in their eyes too much to handle right now.

"Berenice...What. Did. He. Do?" Harrison asked, his voice so cold, the edge of it burned.

I flinched at the question, and shook my head.

He brought a hand up to grip my chin and gently but firmly tilted it up so I had to look at him. His expression was the most severe I'd ever seen. "Berenice..."

"I can't here," I blurted out, taking him by surprise.

He stared at me for a minute before nodding. "All right. Let's go to my-"

Iris was suddenly there, walking briskly into the Cortex, eyes set on me. "Blueberry, Dad said he needs to come here anyway, so he's on his way."

I got up from my chair and moved towards her. Yes, I need to talk to Joe, that's-

"Berenice." Harrison called after me, causing me to stop and look at him. "...After you speak with Joe, please talk to me. We can go to my office if you'd like." He said earnestly, eyes boring into me.

I didn't think I'd find comfort about this anywhere, let alone his luxurious office, but I said, "Okay, Dr. Wells." because it really was kind of him. It was only that kindness wasn't going to grind Tony Woodward's skull to a pulp.

I threw the gutted remains of the paper into the trash bin before letting Iris lead me to the nearest bathroom, my sister saying that I looked like a mess.

8888

"In here," Iris said tensely, pulling me into one of the STAR labs' bathrooms.

I braced my hands against the sink, dropped my head and tried to calm down. It felt like a storm was brewing in my chest, flashing lightning and churning rain.

"Dad said he's just ten minutes out," Iris said, looking down at her phone. "I called Jitters and let them know I'm going to be a late for my shift, so I can wait here and try to help with-"

Her voice choked off abruptly with a strangled gasp. Alarmed, I pulled my head up-

And saw my reflection in the mirror.

I realized from someplace far away, that the person staring back looked like me...but didn't. The Berry Allen in the mirror looked half-crazed. She looked-no, _I_ looked enraged, green eyes glittering and my teeth bared, like I was hanging onto sanity by the jagged tips of my fingernails.

There was a wild look on my face, anger and madness and-

 **FLASHBACK**

 _Fifteen year old me limped down the street, dragging a loudly complaining Iris behind me, trying to get as far away from that house as fast as possible._

 _"Berry, what the hell!? There was a really cute guy talking to m-"_

 _The events from just five minutes earlier were swirling around like a hurricane in my mind, after spending the entire party feeling uncomfortable and out of place, being tricked by that son of a bitch, making me think he'd_ changed _over the summer, and hearing what he wanted to do to Iris-_

 _"Berry!" she called again, but I was still lost in my panic._

 _Hearing, almost experiencing what he was going to do to me-_

 _Iris hit me in the back with her purse, and I whirled around to face her. "We. Need. To. Leave." I hissed, clenching my teeth so I wouldn't scream at her._

 _She glared at me, unmoved by my anger. "No, we need to stay. Damn it, Berry! I saw you talking to some guy for most of the party, and now all of a sudden you want to go? I only got to talk to my guy for like, five minutes!"_

 _"That guy," I spat, and threw Iris' hand back at her. "Was Tony_ fucking _Woodward. He hasn't changed, Iris! He's fucking worse! You should of heard the shit coming out of his mouth about you-that asshole's crush is sick-"_

 _"Crush?" She interrupted, sounding confused. "He told you he liked you?"_

 _Just the thought made my stomach churn. "What? No! He likes you!"_

 _My adoptive sister rolled her eyes. "No he doesn't, Blueberry. He's had a crush on you!"_

 _Did someone give Iris fucking drugs while we were in there? "He's jealous of me, he's had a thing_ for you _since we were_ kids _!"_

 _"Oh, Berry, why do you think he always picked on you? That's just what boys do, they get all stupid about how to express themselves and-"_

 _"NO!" I roared, causing her to flinch. I took a breath and continued, calmer, "Boys pull a girls hair or something when they like them, they don't beat them to a bloody pulp just for sitting with their adoptive sister at lunch!"_

 _Iris was looking at me with an odd expression on her face, but I just kept going. "They don't pretend to have changed just so they could get around their guard," my voice was starting to hitch, I could feel the tears that I've held back start to flow. "they don't lie to them just to get them alone, they don't...they-"_

 _I choked on the words that just refused be said, and turned away from Iris and bit my lip to stop the sobs from pouring out._

 _Iris was pleading with me to talk to her, to explain, but I couldn't. I couldn't tell her everything that happened, she'd tell Joe, and he'd...he'd-_

 _My thoughts came to a screeching halt when I caught sight of my reflection in a parked car's mirror, it being perfectly illuminated with us standing direction under a street light. My face was pale, my face was wild looking, and my hair was just as bad, sticking up in random areas. My lips were parted from me panting, blood dribbling down my chin from biting my lip too hard._

 _But my eyes shook me to my core._

 _They weren't the eyes of a good person._

 _There was so much heavy anger, betrayal, hurt, fear, and lastly, and most scary of all..._

 _Hate._

 _It was something that I loathed to see, to feel. Someone, that ever since my mother was murdered and my innocent father was sent to prison, has wanted to be let loose. Someone that I didn't want to be._

 _It was a look that shouldn't be on my face, and a look that would haunt me for years after it's first appearance._

Which is what the Berry looking back at me resembled perfectly.

A shock of pain rocketed up my arm when I rammed my fist as hard as I could into the face staring back at me. Pulling my arm back, I hit it again, and again, and again-

"Berry, stop! You're hurting yourself!" Iris grabbed my arm, pulling me away. My hand screamed with silent agony. It hung in the air at the end of my wrist, clenched and immobile.

I noticed that it was the same hand I had bitten earlier, and vaguely realized that Iris wouldn't be able to tell that the wound from earlier had already healed.

"I-I think you broke it..." There were tears in Iris' voice. I couldn't see anything except those eyes, sharp and a glittering green. I felt far beyond myself, even from the pain in my hand.

"Let's go, Blueberry," Iris whispered. From a great distance, I felt the ghost of her hand lying on my arm. "To Caitlin. She'll help you-with your hand, I mean." She grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and gently wiped my face, clearing away the tears and blood before we saw the others again.

Some part of me knew I should say thank you, but the part in control, which was not in control, couldn't speak. It could only respond to the pressure on Iris' hand, guiding me from the restroom, and burn and burn inside me.

 **8888**

Caitlin had cleaned my hand and wrapped it with a grim injunction not to go around hitting anything for a while. She didn't ask-what she didn't say was loud and clear by the look in her eyes.

It was just as well. I seemed to have dropped my voice after talking to Harrison just minutes before.

Although he most certainly didn't lose his.

He'd been speaking practically non stop since we came back, and he was asking-no, demanding that we tell him exactly what was going on. He tried with me, but once he saw how unresponsive I was, turned on Iris.

She still refused to speak about it in detail, just saying that it had to do with a past interaction with Woodward, thankfully. I already knew that wouldn't cut it for long, though. Harrison's heavy gaze confirmed that he would be prying the full story out of me, sooner than later.

Cisco stayed quiet, having been on the end of Dr. Wells temper before, but still shot me concerned looks.

I felt weak and shaky, as if I was recovering from a bad flu. I sat on the cot, unmoving, as the others talked.

Then suddenly they weren't. "Blueberry...Dad's here-come on," Iris said, tugging on my arm. I stumbled a bit as Iris guided me out of the med bay. My mind felt like Dorothy's house during the twister that had swept her away to Oz.

"Berry?"

I looked up at the new voice, and saw Joe standing in front of me, looking concerned. His eyes kept jumping from Iris to me.

"What's going on? What happened to your hand?" he asked, frowning when I did nothing but look down to stare at my bandaged hand.

"Blueberry?" Iris touched my shoulder. I didn't answer again, so she addressed Joe, "After you're done talking to Wells, will you please meet us at the house? We need to talk to you about something that happened when we were teenagers..."

 **8888**

 **The reason this chapter is split is because if it would be like 20k words if all together. Berry's going through some shit, and honestly, I feel like it's justified after all the shit she's gone through since she was a kid. I'm NOT making her a villain though, so don't worry, I'm not going there with this story, I don't plan for Eobard to try to recruit her to the dark side, either. He needs her to be the Flash, the hero, or the whole timeline is fucked, and he knows it.**

 **Thanks for reading, and sorry for cliffhanger!**

 **Ja ne!**


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